The Nativity — Indian White Wood Relief

The Nativity is the most ambitious work Fine Art Carvings has ever offered — seven months of daily carving, two master hands, two continents, in the deep-relief tradition.

The composition takes its cue from Caravaggio's Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence — a painting famous twice over: once for its beauty, and once because it vanished. Cut from its frame in a Palermo oratory in 1969, the original has never been recovered. Here that lost scene is given a body again — translated out of shadow and oil into wood you can read with your fingertips.

The central panel is carved in deep relief in Indian white wood by master carver D. K. Sharma, in collaboration with Georges Boujakly — every figure raised and undercut entirely by hand, never machined. It is set within a border of hand-pierced scrollwork, fretted openwork carved rather than cast or routed, so the whole reads as one object rather than art set into a frame.

A one-of-a-kind work; there is no second, and there will not be. Ready to hang. Dimensions, carving hours, and provenance are available on request — shipping for this piece is arranged individually; please contact us to discuss delivery.