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  • Writer's pictureSilvia Hufnagel

Cartapesta in Kaupangur

For December Paper Trails has a special present for you: a devotional relief, depicting the Adoration of the Magi. The three Magi have arrived in Bethlehem and offer presents to the baby Jesus and its parents, Mary and Joseph. This coloured and gilded image, measuring 29 × 22.4 × 4.5 cm, was produced in the Upper Rhine area in Germany around 1470-1480. It is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Look at the details, such as the gilding, the way Joseph looks at Jesus, and how Jesus grabs the hair of one of the Magi!

Adoration of the Magi (1470–1480, Germany) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Now, you might ask what this relief of the Adoration of the Magi has to do with the December-blog entry of a project about paper in Iceland, apart from the Christmas theme. And the answer is, presumably quite a bit.


The most interesting fact about the relief is that it is made of cartapesta, or papermaché. This technique was used since at least the 13th century and gained great popularity in the early modern era; wastepaper was mixed with chalk and binding agents, and the pulp was then pressed into a mould and either dried or fired before it was painted. Many papermaché reliefs were put onto wooden boards and framed. Despite their popularity, only very few of them have survived into our days.


As I mentioned in the blog entry in September, one of the earliest references to paper in Iceland is found in the church inventory of Kaupangur in North Iceland from 1478: Margrét Vigfusdóttir (c. 1406-1486) donated, among other items, a “tabulum med pappir” (altar-piece with/made of paper). And while I previously believed that this altar-piece was perhaps reinforced with cardboard, it now seems much more likely that it was made of papermaché, just like the relief in New York.


And with this Paper Trails of Iceland wishes you all amazing holidays and a great start into the new year (Es kann nur besser werden…)!


Further reading:


Alexander Schnütgen, “Sieben Papiermachéreliefs des späten Mittelalters.“ Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst 23 (1910): 33-36.


Jón Sigurðsson, Jón Þorkelsson, Páll Eggert Ólason and Björn Þorsteinsson, eds., Diplomatarium islandicum. Íslenzkt fornbréfasafn; sem hefir inni að halda bréf og gjörninga, dóma og máldaga og aðrar skrár, er snerta Ísland eða íslenzka menn. 16 vols. Copenhagen: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafjelag, 1857-1972, vol. 5, 302, no. XLII.


PS If such paper objects that imitate more expensive materials has awakened your interest: the conference "Mehr Schein als Sein?! Papierne Imitation und Illusion/Mehr Schein als Sein?! Papierne Imitation und Illusion" (Dresden/Germany, 17 May 2021, organised by the Forum BildDruckPapier) is devoted to such objects. See the Call for Papers here.

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