Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Maskell (1872) stated that the 'robes of the Virgin have been coloured' and the photograph reproduced by him showed areas of probably blue paint on the Virgin's mantle, and a gilded pattern of dots around the collar of her cloak. Now, only faint traces of green can be seen in the area of this previous painting (presumably due to a cleaning after 1929).

Reverse
Carved in the round.

Object Condition
Crown partly broken.
Missing: stem of the flowers originally held by the Virgin.
The hole at the top of the sphere in Christ's hand indicates the loss of either a small cross (orb?) or a stem (apple?).

Comments
Koechlin compares this piece with a wooden statue from the Peyre collection in the V&A (746-1895) and monumental sculpture from the Troyes area (Koechlin 1900).
Underside: scored with lines for adhesion; dowel hole at the centre (2.5cm deep) which is painted red on the inside.

Provenance
In the possession of John Webb (b. 1799, d. 1880), London; on loan to the Museum from 1867; purchased from him by the Museum in 1872.

Bibliography
List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington, Acquired During the Year 1872, Arranged According to the Dates of Acquisition (London, [c. 1872]), p. 1.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), no. 7-72 with ill. on p. 145.
R. Koechlin and J.-J. Marquet de Vasselot, La Sculpture à Troyes et dans la Champagne méridionale au XVIe siècle, étude sur la transition de l'art gothique à l'italianisme (Paris, 1900).
A. Maskell, Ivories (Connoisseurs Library), (London, 1905), p. 171.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 246; II, no. 626; III, pl. CIV.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 30, pl. XXVIII.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 7.