The Virgin and Child

Place of OriginFrance

Date1325-1350

Dimensions8 1/2 × 3 5/8 × 2 1/4 in. (21.6 × 9.2 × 5.7 cm)

MediumIvory, metal (later crown)

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1949.38

Not on View

DescriptionTraces of polychromy: lining of the Virgin's cloak Missing: crown (replaced). Very cracked.

Label TextIn this playful and human representation of a mother supporting her child, Jesus takes his first step on Mary’s lap. Statuettes of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child were among the most popular choices for ivory production, as the material itself reaffirmed deep-rooted ideas about gender. Cool to the touch at first, ivory slowly warms with tactile engagement. Since antiquity, many writers associated women with coldness and men with heat. For medieval Christians, the feel and color of the ivory may also have conjured notions of chastity and purity appropriate for depicting Mary and other virgin saints.Published ReferencesE. Molinier, Catalogue of the Frederic Spitzer Collection, vol. 1,Paris, 1890, no. 44, repr. pl. 17.

Koechlin, R., Les Ivoires Gothiques Francais, Paris, 1924, p. 242, II, no. 668, pl. CX.

Randall, Richard H. Jr., The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Carvings in North American Collections, New York, 1993, no. 23, p. 39, repr. The Courtauld Institute of Art, Gothic Ivories,2015, Koechlin no. 0668, Link to resource.

Exhibition HistoryParis, Exposition Universelle de 1900, Catalogue illustré Officiel de l'Exposition Rétrospective de l'Art Français, 1900, no. 64 (in Nodet collection).

Evanston, Illinois, Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University; Toronto, Khan Museum; Washington DC, National Museum of African Art, Caravans of Gold, Jan. 25, 2019-Nov. 29, 2021.