Description
Virgin and Child in carved ivory with traces of polychromy, flat back. The bust slightly set back, Mary carries the Child on her left arm, her other arm surrounded by a flap of her cloak; beautiful face with stretched eyes with swollen upper eyelids, fine and slightly turned up nose, mouth smiling and small pointed chin. The back is broken with holes corresponding to pegs, one of which has kept its ivory peg. Paris, circa 1280-1300 Height: 19,9 cm - Weight: 300 g Number 101 inscribed in ink on the back. (visible accidents and missing parts, including the head of the Child, crack) This pretty statuette would have been placed in the center of a triptych, a polyptych or an altarpiece. Its reverse side shows traces of fixation similar to those visible on the back of the Coronation of the Virgin group in the Louvre Museum dating from the 1250s/60s (OA 58, OA 3921 and 3922). Its slender proportions suggest that it was intended to be inserted into an architectural niche in the center of a triptych or polyptych, as can be seen in public collections and cathedral treasuries. Although time has not spared it, it is a Virgin of great quality, made shortly after the famous Virgin and Child of the Sainte-Chapelle in the Louvre (OA 57). Her face is of exceptional finesse and beauty, reflecting the feminine ideal of the Gothic period. A comparison with the gilded copper statuettes of the shrine of Saint Romain in the treasury of Rouen Cathedral, dating from the decades 1270-1290, allows us to situate her creation shortly after. The same long silhouettes and draperies with a certain stiffness can be found (fig. a and b) Book consulted: D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux Ve - XV e siècle, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2003.
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Virgin and Child in carved ivory with traces of polychromy, flat back. The bust slightly set back, Mary carries the Child on her left arm, her other arm surrounded by a flap of her cloak; beautiful face with stretched eyes with swollen upper eyelids, fine and slightly turned up nose, mouth smiling and small pointed chin. The back is broken with holes corresponding to pegs, one of which has kept its ivory peg. Paris, circa 1280-1300 Height: 19,9 cm - Weight: 300 g Number 101 inscribed in ink on the back. (visible accidents and missing parts, including the head of the Child, crack) This pretty statuette would have been placed in the center of a triptych, a polyptych or an altarpiece. Its reverse side shows traces of fixation similar to those visible on the back of the Coronation of the Virgin group in the Louvre Museum dating from the 1250s/60s (OA 58, OA 3921 and 3922). Its slender proportions suggest that it was intended to be inserted into an architectural niche in the center of a triptych or polyptych, as can be seen in public collections and cathedral treasuries. Although time has not spared it, it is a Virgin of great quality, made shortly after the famous Virgin and Child of the Sainte-Chapelle in the Louvre (OA 57). Her face is of exceptional finesse and beauty, reflecting the feminine ideal of the Gothic period. A comparison with the gilded copper statuettes of the shrine of Saint Romain in the treasury of Rouen Cathedral, dating from the decades 1270-1290, allows us to situate her creation shortly after. The same long silhouettes and draperies with a certain stiffness can be found (fig. a and b) Book consulted: D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux Ve - XV e siècle, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2003.
