NARRATOR: This marble bust of a young girl is actually from a tomb effigy of princess Marie de France, who died when she was only fourteen years old. Curator Barbara Drake Boehm:

BARBARA DRAKE BOEHM: This is of course only the head and what is interesting is that originally it would have been lying down. It’s difficult for us to show it in a way that really suggests its original appearance in the church, but it would’ve been the recumbent image of the princess lying atop her tomb, with her feet down towards the altar. She wears a hairstyle that is very typical for the period with these braids that come down either side of her head, and you can see that originally she had some kind of metal circlet crown around her forehead. You just see the holes, where perhaps jewels, or something simulating jewels, would’ve been set. And then below her braids are these peculiar little tabs of metal, which must’ve been some kind of ear or hair ornaments as well.

NARRATOR: The label below illustrates how the tomb would have appeared. A marble canopy originally surmounted the sculpture.

The tomb of Marie de France was not completed until the end of the fourteenth century, many decades after her death. It was made by a court sculptor named Jean de Liège for the important royal abbey of Saint-Denis, just outside Paris, where French royalty was traditionally buried.

Like so many Medieval works of art produced for the royal court, Marie de France’s funerary chapel was vandalized during the French Revolution.