# The bride's attire

Her carefully styled hair is parted in the middle. Two braids are held in place by a wide ribbon.

Her static posture, her ribbon-adorned hairstyle, and the layering of her garments follow the representational codes of queens in the 12th century, as seen in the example below, preserved at the Louvre Museum. However, unlike our bride, this queen is both crowned and nimbused.

If this figure represents the bride of the Wedding at Cana, she is a symbolic figure of the Church. Nevertheless, her great beauty and grace could also associate her with other biblical figures such as Ruth, Judith, Esther, Bathsheba, Mary Magdalene, and others.

Statue-column of a Queen or the Queen of Sheba,
from the Church of Notre-Dame de Corbeil, c. 1175-1200,
RF 1617, Musée du Louvre
Photo © Marc Gil