author: Andreas II Mackensen, Gdańsk; restorations Georg Gruschke, Malbork
1690 and around 1715-1735
silver, stones; rolling, cutting, boning, chiseling, riveting
measurements: height approx. 159 cm, width approx. 110-115 cm
storage location: unknown
Applied ornament placed on a fabric-covered panel with holes cut out to reveal the faces and hands of the figures shown in the painting. Composed of elements that faithfully imitate the composition of the painting: the dress of the Mother of God and the Child; two closed crowns with jewels (five jewels on the Child’s crown, twelve on the Virgin’s crown); thirty-seven straight and flamed (wavy) rays arranged in an alternating system, nineteen rays on the left and eighteen rays on the right of the figures depicted; eleven six-pointed stars, applied around the Madonna and the Child, at the tips of the rays. The cover is ornamented with floral patterns (dry acanthus), with numerous draperies and folds imitating the arrangement of the ruffles from the painting composition.
The application certainly shared the fate of the painting. After 1945, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary was moved to an undetermined place, stolen or destroyed.
(by B. Butryn)
UPDATE !!!
As a result of inquiries carried out in the Central Military Archives in Warsaw, we obtained information that fragments of the painting and the silver appliqué were found during the removal of rubble from the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the High Castle in Malbork at the end of January 1950. These fragments were secured by the then administration of the castle, their fate remains unknown.
