Related Multimedia
Hear an audio guide excerpt from a conversation between Philippe de Montebello, Director Emeritus, and Peter Barnet, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters (July 2008).
England (probably London)
Elephant ivory
10 3/4 x 5 5/16 x 3 3/4 in. (27.3 x 13.5 x 9.6 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1979 (1979.402)
Once enclosed within an ivory or perhaps silver tabernacle, this ivory statuette of the Virgin and Child is a rare surviving example from thirteenth-century England. It was used as a personal devotional object, the statues were made at a time when the cult of the Virgin had reached its peak of popularity. The composition emphasizes the reciprocal tenderness between the mother and child: the Virgin turns slightly to her left to face the now-missing infant Christ. The rich, reddish brown surface may be the result of staining with walnut oil or some other agent.
Related
Index Terms
Material and Technique
- Ivory
- Ivory, Europe
- Sculpture, In the Round, Europe
- Sculpture, in the Round, Europe, Great Britain and Ireland
Object
Subject Matter/Theme
- Figure, Biblical
- Figure, Biblical, New Testament
- Figure, Biblical, New Testament, Madonna and Child
- Figure, Mother and Child
- Religious Art, Christianity
