Enthroned Virgin and Child

This superb ivory statue stands at 16 inches (40.6 cm), earning it the distinction of being one of the largest ivory statues to survive from Europe in the Middle Ages. Mary is represented seated with the young Jesus on her lap and wears a belted gown or kirtle that flows between in knees in sharp, deeply cut V-shaped draperies. She is crowned, veiled, and wears a mantle that crosses her lap and gathers in her left hand. She looks forward as she supports Jesus with her left hand and touches his foot with her right. He looks up at her, touching her chin with his right hand. His left hand is slightly closed, suggesting it once grasped an apple or an orb. Mary’s face is pointed, with a slight double chin. Her physiognomy is typical of Parisian ivory carving of the thirteenth century, with a straight nose, arched brows, almond-shaped eyes, and a face framed with a halo of curly hair. She smiles slightly, as does her son, who shares the shape of her eyes and her naturalistically carved curls.

The thirteenth-century date suggested by the style correlates well with recent Carbon 14 dating, which has returned a date of between the years 1160-1270 (2 sigma calibration with a 95% probability) for the ivory itself. The left ear of Jesus is highly pronounced, perhaps suggesting his receptiveness to the prayers of those who would use the statue in devotional practices. The back of the statue is finished, but the planar quality of the draperies suggests that it was not intended to be seen.

The statue preserves numerous traces of original polychrome decoration. Gilding is especially noticeable in the hair, around the cuffs of the clothes, in Mary’s eyes, and on the drawstring of her mantel. The interior folds of the mantle and the dress also preserve traces of blue and red pigment, most easily examined from below. The carving is in an excellent state of preservation. There are a few areas of loss, including the fingers on the left hand of Jesus and elements of Mary’s crown. Mary’s right foot, which once extended beyond the plane of the plinth, is broken. A restorer sought to reattach the broken foot with a dowel, but later abraded the whole foot to be flush with the arc of the plinth. The rest of the surface is smooth and lustrous, with minor cracking from dehydration.

Whether measured by the high quality of its design and carving, its excellent state of preservation, and its monumental size, this statue is truly superlative. The thirteenth-century bylaws of the Parisian sculptors’ guild forbade carvers to assemble most kinds of ivory statues out of more than one piece, meaning that, in practice, the dimensions of an elephant tusk defined the upper limit in a sculpture’s scale (Sears 1997,p. 12). Given these strictures, carvers turned to clever material choice and design techniques to maximize the size of their final products, some of which were used in the present example. Sculptors for instance took ivory from the base of the tusk and incorporated the hollow nerve cavity into the base of the design. Just such a cavity is visible on the underside of the current statue. They also regularly incorporated the tusk’s curve into the composition. On the current sculpture, this is not immediately perceptible on the front, but the tusk’s backward arc is obvious when viewed from the sides and behind. The heavy scoring on the base and the sides of Mary’s chair demonstrate that the central sculpture was set in a more elaborate throne when first made and may have formed the centerpiece of a larger composition.

The medieval provenance of this statue is unknown, but, given its large size and technical brilliance, it was probably intended for a religious institution or a high aristocrat. French rulers such as Charles V of France (r. 1364-1380) often owned numerous ivories of the Virgin and Child, suggesting that they may have circulated as gifts. Some ivory sculptures representing the Virgin and Child may have travelled with aristocratic owners, as in the instance of St. Hedwig of Silesia, who carried an ivory of the Virgin and Child throughout her travels. Among more typical users, such statues were probably reserved for special occasions and seen infrequently. Charles Little has suggested that large and elaborate statues of the Virgin and Child were likely displayed on Marian feast days such as the feasts of the Purification, Annunciation, Assumption, Nativity, and on Saturdays, a selective revealing of the normally hidden that would have lent a sheen to high holy days. When not in use, these precious works were placed under lock and key in specially made boxes that could be placed in treasuries for safekeeping (Little 2014, p. 18).

Further Reading:

Elizabeth Sears, "Ivory and Ivory Workshops in Medieval Paris," in Images in Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. Peter Barnet (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997): pp. 18-37.

C. Schlief, "St. Hedwig’s Personal Ivory Madonna: Women’s Agency and the Powers of Possessing Portable Figures," in E,S, Lane, E.C. Pastan, and E.M. Shortell (eds), The Four Modes of Seeing: Approaches to Medieval Imagery in Honor of Madeline Harrison Caviness (Farnham, 2009): pp. 382-403.

Tom Williamson and Glynn Davies, Medieval Ivories, 1200-1500: Part 1 (London: Victoria & Albert Publishing, 2014): pp. 23-82.

Charles T. Little, "The Art of Gothic Ivories: Studies at the Crossroads," Sculpture Journal 23 (2014): pp. 13-29.

Sarah Guérin, "Introduction to Gothic Ivories," in Gothic Ivories Calouste Gulbekian Collection (London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2015): pp. 16-35.


Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022

[ Jacques Seligmann & Co., Paris (sold 1906)]; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1906–1913)

"The Pierpont Morgan Gift." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 13, no. 1 (January 1918). ill. p. 6.

Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. pp. 90, 113, fig. 63.

Blair, Claude, and M. Campbell. Louis Marcy: Oggetti d'arte della Galleria Parmeggiani di Reggio Emilia. Torino: Umberto Allemandi, 2008. p. 142 n. 1.

Little, Charles T. "The Art of Gothic Ivories: Studies at the Crossroads." The Sculpture Journal 31, no. 1 (2014). pp. 18–19, fig. 4–7.