Virgin and Child

This statuette is by an unknown from the middle of the 16th century from Germany. The group shows the Virgin seated with the Child Christ on her knee in front of St. Anne, who stands and holds a book in her right hand.

It is made of pipeclay, which is a fine white clay also used to make tobacco pipes and pottery. Conveniently situated on a major trading route, Siegburg was a centre of ceramic production with well-organised workshops and kilns in which also pipe-clay figures were fired.