Hl. Joseph

All the heightened emotion so typical of devotional pictures is here suppressed in favour of the joy of narration, which characterises St. Joseph as a wandering carpenter. Posed in mid-stride, he bears a staff in his right hand and shoulders an axe with the left. From his lower right arm hangs a basket made of woven silver wire containing nineteen miniature tools used by the carpenter; three further tools are hanging from his belt. Particularly notable is the accuracy of the models, some of which are fully functional. The statuette is one of the most ingenious works of the Augsburg goldsmiths art.