The Virgin and Child: on view at Victoria and Albert Museum

This ivory statuette representing the Virgin and Child is made in France (Paris) or England (probably Westminster), in about 1360-1380. The group has an inherent quality and was apparently set in a silver or gilt-copper tabernacle shrine which suggests that it was an especially revered image, perhaps originally kept in a private oratory or chapel.

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.

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Throughout the ages artists and craftsmen have made virtuoso carvings as a display of their skill and ingenuity. Although ivory, wood and stone are relatively easy to carve, other materials such as gemstones are much more demanding. Most of these carvings were made for wealthy patrons and collectors, who delighted in the rarity of the material and quality of the carving. Parisian workshops made Gothic ivories of the Virgin and Child in large numbers for private devotional use.