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Plaque with Enthroned Virgin and Child

850–875
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 304
This carving showing the Virgin and the Infant Jesus reuses an ivory plaque that might have once served as a furniture mount. The plaque, originally carved in Egypt one hundred years earlier, depicts on its back a tree flanked by birds. The recarving of pagan ivories with Christian subjects, probably to adorn a Gospel book, occurred in a workshop associated with the emperor Charles the Bald (r. 840–77), the grandson of Charlemagne. The reuse of ancient ivory plaques, not unusual in the 800s, was due to the rarity of African elephant ivory in Europe.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Plaque with Enthroned Virgin and Child
  • Date: 850–875
  • Geography: Made in northern France
  • Culture: Carolingian
  • Medium: Elephant ivory
  • Dimensions: Overall: 5 11/16 x 3 7/16 x 1/4 in. (14.5 x 8.8 x 0.6 cm)
  • Classification: Ivories-Elephant
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.190.39
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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