Sculpture of St. Barbara, St. Margaret and St. Elisabeth of Thuringia

The sculpture of St. Barbara, St. Margaret and St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, made in 1707, was commissioned from the workshop of Prague-based sculptor Johann Brokoff by Imperial Councilor Johann Wenzel Obytecký of Obytec. In the making of the sculpture, sons of Johan Brokoff were probably also involved – Michael Johann Joseph and Ferdinand Maximillian, only nineteen at the time. Ferdinand Maximillian most probably sculpted the group depicting St. Elizabeth with a beggar, above the right side of the three-part pedestal. The figures of the crowned saints are made independently; they are not yet connected into a whole. St. Barbara, standing on the elevated central section of the pedestal, clutches a palm branch (referring to martyrdom) in her left hand, and her right one holds a chalice with a gilded host, proving her Christian faith. The tower at her feet symbolizes the prison into which she was thrown before her beheading for her faith. St. Margaret of Antioch, who refused to marry a pagan and thus renounce her faith, is depicted on the left side of the sculpture, her foot resting on a dragon, a symbol of the Devil, whom she miraculously overcame and therefore she escaped certain death. Her clasped hands hold a gilded cross, her gaze is devoutly turned up to the skies. The last of the trio, St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, was the daughter of the King of Hungary, and she was also the cousin of St. Agnes of Bohemia. Her left hand holds a scepter, a symbol of her noble lineage; with her right hand she offers bread to a beggar crouching on the plinth at her feet. The central part of the pedestal bears a small oval cartouche with an intercessory inscription; St. Margaret and St. Elizabeth are identified by inscriptions on their plinths. The sculpture is signed in Latin: “IOAN BROKOFF FECIT”.