The Virgin and Child

+21
images

On display

V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 10

This object consists of 2 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

Artist/Maker	Unknown
Place of origin	Paris (made)

The love of elegance for its own sake increasingly dominated European art at the beginning of the fourteenth century, a development which co-incided with an increasing emphasis on the human qualities of the Virgin Mary. This statuette depicts the Virgin as gentle and maternal, smiling down at her inquisitive son.
In her right hand the Virgin holds a cylindrical object, the stem of a lily (now lost) which symbolised Mary's virginal state when her son was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The crown on her head distinguishes her as the quen of heaven. This Virgin and Child forms part of a now well-known group of similar pieces. These comparatively large ivory sculptures were presumably made for an élite market. They may not all be by the same hand, but they share details of pose and style, which pressupose a common approach and intimately related workshops.
Three dimensional images of the Virgin and Child were ubiquitous from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, produced in a wide range of materials and sizes and testifying the overwhelming devotion to th Virgin. Together with the Crucifixion, statues and statuettes of the Virgin and Child were the pricipal objects of devotion in the Christian Church, and vast numbers were made for ecclesisastical, monastic and private worship.

Object details

Categories	Images Online Christianity Religion Sculpture
Object type	Statuette
Parts	This object consists of 2 parts. Group Fragment
Title	The Virgin and Child (generic title)
Materials and techniques	Carved elephant ivory Ivory Carving
Brief description	Statuette, ivory, of the Virgin and Child, France (Paris), ca. 1310-1320
Physical description	Ivory statuette of the Virgin and Child. The Virgin turns to look at Her Child. The Child Christ, dressed in a long tunic, holds an apple in His left hand, and His right is stretched out as if to touch the lily. As Maskell noted, the proportions are incorrect, her head being too small and her legs below the knee much too long. Over her veil she wears a low coronet which once consisted of eight fleurons. She wears a long mantle over belted gown and holds in her right hand a cylinder which once contained the stem of a tall lily, now missing.
Dimensions	Of virgin height: 35.5cm Maximum width width: 13.2cm Depth: 7cm Weight: 3.22kg Total height including base height: 40.5 Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries 2005
Object history	Formerly in the Humann Collection, Paris, 8-15 February 1858; sold 8 February, lot 2; Then with John Webb. Purchased from him in 1858. This is one of the largest and most well known of these figures, which were predominantly intended for private devotion. The imposing figure is carved from a single piece of ivory, and the elegant sway of the Virgin's pose follows the slight curve of the elephant's tusk. Historical significance: In the second half of the thirteenth century, the emphasis in production shifted towards private sculptural commissions, more particularly portable devotional objects, and numerous ivory Madonnas and diptychs survive from the thirteenth and fourteenth century. The models for such portable pieces are found in monumental sculpture, but small ivories allowed a refinement of detail which would usually have been out of place in larger works. The love of elegance for its own sake dominated art at the end of this period.
Historical context	The thirteenth century saw the development of the cult of the Virgin which had grown up in the previous century. The Hours of the Virgin were now recited daily and many tracts were written upon her virtues and her symbolic status. The most frequently recurring theme is that of the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven. In the thirteenth century the idea of the Virgin interceding to save the repentant sinner is more fully developed, and representations of her become more gentle and maternal.
Subject depicted	Virgin and Child
Summary	The love of elegance for its own sake increasingly dominated European art at the beginning of the fourteenth century, a development which co-incided with an increasing emphasis on the human qualities of the Virgin Mary. This statuette depicts the Virgin as gentle and maternal, smiling down at her inquisitive son. In her right hand the Virgin holds a cylindrical object, the stem of a lily (now lost) which symbolised Mary's virginal state when her son was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The crown on her head distinguishes her as the quen of heaven. This Virgin and Child forms part of a now well-known group of similar pieces. These comparatively large ivory sculptures were presumably made for an élite market. They may not all be by the same hand, but they share details of pose and style, which pressupose a common approach and intimately related workshops. Three dimensional images of the Virgin and Child were ubiquitous from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, produced in a wide range of materials and sizes and testifying the overwhelming devotion to th Virgin. Together with the Crucifixion, statues and statuettes of the Virgin and Child were the pricipal objects of devotion in the Christian Church, and vast numbers were made for ecclesisastical, monastic and private worship.
Associated objects	TN.399-2011 (Reproduction)
Bibliographic references	Williamson, Paul (ed.), The Medieval Treasury: the art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1986 pp. 196-197 Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1858. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 15 Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, p. 30 Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014 part I, pp. 40-43 Maskell, W. A Description of the Ivories Ancient and Medieval in the South Kensington Museum, London, 1872 pp. 15-16 Maskell, A., Ivories, London, 1905 pp. 169-170, pl. XXXVII Koechlin, R., Les Ivoires gothiques français, 3 vols, Paris, 1924 (reprinted Paris 1968) I, p. 107, II, cat. no. 104 Williamson, Paul. An Introduction to Medieval Ivory Carvings, London, 1982 p. 44, pl. 29 Williamson, Paul, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Medieval Sculpture and Works of Art, London, 1987 p. 118, 120 (fig. 3) Williamson, Paul, and Motture, Peta (eds.), Medieval and Renaissance Treasures, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2010 Williamson, Paul (ed.), The Medieval Treasury: the art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1986, pp. 196, 197 Williamson, Paul, and Motture, Peta (eds.), Medieval and Renaissance Treasures, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2010, cat. no. 20 Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014, part I, pp. 40-43, cat. no. 6
Collection	Sculpture Collection
Accession number	4685&:2-1858

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Record created	January 15, 2003
Record URL	https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73091/the-virgin-and-child-statuette-unknown/

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