Analysis of the Prayer Bead Carving. Visual & Performing Arts Essay

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Analysis of the Prayer Bead Carving
Question One
I recently had the privilege of visiting the Thompson Gallery that is situated on the main floor of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. There were several exquisite pieces of art but there was one in particular that caught my eye. It was a prayer bead that was made in the form of a box wood with metal fittings. It is believed that the sculpture was made between 1500 and 1530 by a Dutch sculptor who remains anonymous (Boyko n.p). This particular sculpture has several parts that purposed to symbolize David beheading Goliath and David kneeling before Samuel. As such, it is part of the miniature carved boxwood prayer beads whose sculpturing has remained a mystery for over 500 years. The first aspect of the sculptor that grabbed my attention involved the boxwood. Many talented carvers during that period prized and used boxwood regularly in their sculptors. According to Brown (2016), “It had a consistent grain, was hard enough to hold its shape and was thought to have been one of the woods used to make Christ's cross” (n.p). The outside of the carving shows a complex flower pattern which is the most significant symbol of gothic reminds me all kinds of vaultings of gothic architectures such as Salisbury Cathedral, Southwell Minster, and Gloucester Cathedral during the medieval period.
This particular carving is one of 12 extant prayer beads in the Thompson Collection (Brown n.p). They were primarily designed to be used as devotional objects by Catholics to count off prayers. From opening the two spheres, one views two or more biblical scenes. A thorough examination of the carving reveals that the sculptor must have used five-centimeter-long tools to not only drill but also gouge the detailed religious scenes (Brown n.p). It is also possible that the carving was made from a single piece of boxwood. However, it was done in parts and held together using tiny boxwood pins. The prayer bead is a spherical dome that is divided into several pie-shaped segments. The shell of the extant prayer bead shows three interrelated styles of tracery. According to The Boxwood Project (2020) shares that the third style is quite complex because “ It uses partial circumferences, or arcs, of circles to link the first style’s looping and intersecting circles with the second style’s repeating patterns of small circles” (n.p).  
Question Two
Despite the passage of time, several biblical scenes are still visible. Overall, it is divided into four distinct parts that share the same brave biblical story of David. While the left side of the carving shows...