Virgin and Child

This object comes from the Benedictine nunnery of Saint Mary and Saint Sexburgha at Minster-in-Sheppey, Kent. The Virgin Mary was one of the two patrons of the church, following its rededication in the 1130s. The standing Virgin and Child was a subject almost unknown in Western European sculpture at this date. It ultimately derives from the Byzantine image of the Theotokos Hodegetria ('the Mother of God showing the way'). The more usual representation of the Virgin and Child in England showed the Virgin enthroned. Byzantine compositions were adopted by artists in Western Europe during the twelfth century.

The flat back of this sculpture is unusual, and suggests that it might come from a screen within the church. A screen of this type may also have carried a representation of the church's other patron, the Anglo-Saxon Saint Sexburgha.