This is the head of a pastoral staff in elephant ivory, carved representing the Virgin and Child between two Angels and the Crucifixion. It is made in about 1330-13540 in Paris. Ivory was used all over Europe for religious works of art. It was often combined with precious metals and usually took the form of relief panels, for book covers, portable altars and caskets. An almost unbroken tradition of ivory carving extends from the Roman and Byzantine empires until the end of the 14th century. From about 1250, Paris became the centre of production for figures and reliefs intended for private devotion.

The name crozier is commonly used for the crook-shaped pastoral staff of a bishop or abbot. It forms part of their insignia.
It was carried as a symbol of authority and pastoral care. It was made of various materials, but by the twelfth century ivory was in widespread use for the head of the crozier. The shaft was often made of wood, occasionally embellished with metal knops, although on Italian Gothic examples, ivory and bone cylinders were used in construction. French Gothic ivory crozier heads are predominantly of one design, with the Crucifixion and the Virgin and St John on one side and the Virgin and Child, flanked by candle-bearing angels, on the other. It appears that the principal face was that to be seen when the volute of the crozier was facing to the right.