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Enthroned Virgin and Child

mid-14th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 305
The sculpture is created by pressing linen reinforced with glue into shallow molds and mounting the figure on a wood backing and adding paint and gilding. This work seems to be a unique surviving example of this technique. The Virgin is seated upon a throne displaying lion heads, a reference to the Throne of Solomon.
Significantly, a number of votive offerings are incorporated into the interior of the figure: a pearl rosary and bobbin lace and other fabrics. The figure is said to have come from the convent of Santa Chiara in Vaglia, Tuscany, indicating that it was probably made for a Clarissan convent, a sister order following the Franciscan rule.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Enthroned Virgin and Child
  • Date: mid-14th century
  • Geography: Made in probably Umbria, Tuscany, Central Italy
  • Culture: Italian
  • Medium: Wooden core, painted canvas and gesso
  • Dimensions: Virgin and Child only: 64 1/4 × 35 × 14 3/4 in., 54 lb. (163.2 × 88.9 × 37.5 cm, 24.5 kg)
  • Classification: Sculpture-Wood
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1916
  • Object Number: 16.154.10a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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