{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O130510"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O130510/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CA2874/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CA2874/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CA2874","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CA2875","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FW3197","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FW3198","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FW3199","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FW3200","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FW3201","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FW3202","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FW3207","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FW3208","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GK3490","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KB3803","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O130510/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O130510","accessionNumber":"209-1867","objectType":"Group","titles":[{"title":"The Virgin and Child","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The group is one of the earliest French carvings in ivory representing the  Standing Virgin and Child. These first gothic ivories share the same stylistic traits as their  monumental counterparts on the portals of cathedrals, and this Virgin has a similar arrangement of the drapery to the famous stone Madonna on the south doorway of the west front of Amiens cathedral, of 1230-35.\r\nThere is also a connection of this Virgin and Child to the so-called Davillier Virgin in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. There can be little  doubt that the seated Davilliers Virgin is actually by the same craftsman as the V&amp;A ivory. The faces are virtually identical and both figures display the same heavy folds of drapery. But not just that, the treatment of the back of the Virgin's veil, is very particular and distinctive and is displayed in the same way on both figures. \nThree 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.","physicalDescription":"The Virgin stands supporting the Child on her left arm, His right arm is raised in benediction, and holds an apple in in His left hand. The figure is carved in the round. The virgin wears a veil, and a mantle, drawn across her body but open at the waist and above, covers her long gown; She staqnds on an integrally-carved cylindrical base, on which are the remains of a gilded inscription with the angelic salutation. There are remains of gilded ornaments on the edges of the Virgin's robe and on her crown.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"carving","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[{"text":"High Gothic","id":"AAT20782"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2009CA2874","2009CA2875","2012FW3197","2012FW3198","2012FW3199","2012FW3200","2012FW3201","2012FW3202","2012FW3207","2012FW3208","2013GK3490","2017KB3803"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"10","id":"THES49099"},"free":"","case":"CA5","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statuette","id":"x45409"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"or Amiens"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1240","earliest":"1235-01-01","latest":"1244-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"7.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"max width at base","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"6.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"1.02","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Formerly Webb collection. Purchased by the mueseum from Webb in 1867.\nThis beautiful Virgin and Child is remarkably close to the larger sculptures of Gothic cathedrals and churches from the period 1230-50, especially those of Amiens. \nHistorical significance: The group is one of the earliest French carvings in ivory representing the Standing Virgin and Child. These first gothic ivories share the same stylistic traits as their monumental counterparts on the portals of cathedrals, and this Virgin has a similar arrangement of the drapery to the famous stone Madonna on the south doorway of the west front of Amiens cathedral, of 1230-35.\nThere is also a connection of this Virgin and Child to the so-called Davillier Virgin in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. There can be little doubt that the seated Davilliers Virgin is actually by the same craftsman as the V&amp;A ivory. The faces are virtually identical and both figures display the same heavy folds of drapery. But not just that, the treatment of the back of the Virgin's veil, is very particular and distinctive and is displayed in the same way on both figures. ","historicalContext":"Images such as this group represents, were certainly made for private devotion. In the Hedwigs Codex of 1353, the text mentions that St Hedwig (d. in 1243) had a small ivory sculpture of the Virgin and Child which she carried with her at all times and which was buried with her.","briefDescription":"Statuette, ivory, The Virgin and Child, French (Paris or Amiens), ca. 1240","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul, ed., <u>European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996","id":"AUTH320316"},"details":"part I, pp. 28-31","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1867. <font -u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1.</font> London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 12"},{"reference":{"text":"Longhurst, Margaret H., <u>Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory</u>. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929","id":"AUTH329986"},"details":"p.29","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Seidel, Max. Die Elfenbeinmadonna im Domschatz zu Pisa. <font -u>Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz.</font> XVI, 1972, pp. 12-13, figs. 12-13"},{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550</u>, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014","id":"AUTH332632"},"details":"part I, pp. 28-31","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Maskell, W. <u>A Description of the Ivories Ancient and Medieval in the South Kensington Museum</u>, London, 1872","id":"AUTH330219"},"details":"p. 80","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Koechlin, R., <u>Les Ivoires gothiques français</u>, 3 vols, Paris, 1924 (reprinted Paris 1968)","id":"AUTH332728"},"details":"I, pp. 62-63, II, cat. no. 21, III, pl. X","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Grodecki, Louis. <u>Ivoires Français</u>. Paris, 1947","id":"AUTH333917"},"details":"p. 83","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul, ed., <u>European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996","id":"AUTH320316"},"details":"p. 52, ill.","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Williamson, Paul, ed., <u>European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996, part I, pp. 28-31, cat. no. 2"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Virgin and Child","id":"N4691"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"apple","id":"x30082"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"The Virgin and Child\r\nAbout 1250-60\r\n\r\nIvory was a suitably previous material to honour the Mother of God and her child. The 13th-century saint Hedwig had an ivory sculpture like this as a focus for prayer and meditation. It was with her always and when she died in 1243 was put in her grave.\r\n\r\nFrance, Paris\r\nIvory\r\nMuseum no. 209-1867","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["209-1867"],"accessionNumberNum":"209","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1867,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LV8371"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-04","recordCreationDate":"2006-12-21","availableToBook":false}}