Base for a Statuette
Not on view
The figures of Eve and the serpent appear on either side of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The woman-headed serpent may represent Lilith, the legendary first wife of Adam, who rebelled against her husband and disappeared from Paradise. God then created Eve from Adam’s rib, leading the jealous Lilith to tempt Eve with the forbidden fruit. The common medieval association of Eve, mother of humankind, with Mary, mother of Jesus, suggests that this base may have supported a statuette of the Virgin.
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