Virgin and Child (Theotokos Hodegetria)

This ivory statuette is from Constantinople probably from the late 10th or early 11th century.

Freestanding sculpture is almost unknown in Byzantine Art - this is the sole surviving example - although there is said to have been an ivory statue of St Helena in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, other similar surviving sculptural representations are all reliefs.

The figure was probably placed in a small tabernacle to be viewed from all sides.

The Virgin Mary, known as the Theotokos in Greek terminology, was central to Byzantine spirituality as one of its most important religious figures. As the mediator between suffering mankind and Christ and the protectress of Constantinople, she was widely venerated.

Most images of the Virgin stress her role as Christ's Mother, showing her standing and holding her son.