Christ Child of the nuns of Sarnen, depicted at one seventh its actual size.

[Nuns] / [Metric relic]. Wahre Abbildung des Miraculose[n] Jesus Kindlins so in dem Frauen Closter beÿ S. Andrea in Sarnen Ord. S. Benedicti aufbehalten und verehret wird, dises 7. mahl gemessen macht die grösse dess Originals. S.l.: s.n, s.a. [18th century].  [12.7 x 6.8 cm], [1] f., engraving. Trimmed unevenly inside the platemark, wrinkles and folds, a few stains.
 
 
Very rare (1 U.S. copy: Johns Hopkins) 18th-century devotional print depicting the Christ Child statue cared for and venerated by nuns at the Benedictine Convent of St. Andrea in Sarnen (Switzerland).
 
Jesus Christ in his infant form was long invoked for various mystical, visionary, eucharistic, thaumaturgical and even maternal purposes, some of which became concentrated in sculptures/figurines/dolls of the Child kept by nuns in their convents. The daily private practices of nuns caring for the Christ Child in the cloister sometimes developed into popular pilgrimages. The print offered here is a rare record of how the convent Baby Jesus was presented to and consumed by the wider public.
 
The background to this print is as follows: In the 14th century, an infirm nun confined to her cell during Christmas at the Convent in Engelberg was given a statue of the Christ Child to keep her company. The statue came to life and moved its right leg. The Engelberg nuns were transferred to Sarnen in 1615, and they brought the miraculous statue with them. A pilgrimage was promptly established at the Convent of St. Andrea.
 
This 18th-century engraving depicts the Sarnen Jesuskind in its shrine, elaborately clothed, its right leg showing through its gown in reference to its miraculous movement. The print is also a ‘metric relic’ announcing that the depiction of the Child on the sheet of paper is one seventh the size of the actual wooden statue (“Dises 7 mahl gemessen macht die grösse dess Originals”). And the claim very nearly checks out: The original statue is said to be 48 cm in length, and the image of the Child here measures 6.5 cm (6.5 x 7 = 45.5 cm).
 
 
OCLC and KVK locate 1 example of the print (Johns Hopkins); similar prints are recorded in N. Czapka, et al., p. 72, no. 142, and Rothemund, pp. 104 and 142.
 
*B. Rothemund, Gnadenreiche Jesulein: Jesuskindwallfahrtsorte: Entstehung - Geschichte - Brauchtum (1982); N. Czapka, et al., Gnadenreiches Jesulein: Jesusverehrung in der Andachtsgraphik (1998); B. Hasslberger, et al., Seelenkind: Verehrt, Verwöhnt, Verklärt: Das Jesuskind in Bayerns Frauenklöstern (2012).