Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy and gilding: gold (along the hems, tasseled border on the back of the veil, the hair of the Virgin), red (lining of the Virgin's cloak, tasseled border on the back of the veil, lining of the veil, lining of Christ's tunic, mouldings of throne), green (tasseled border on the back of the veil), blue (lining of the Virgin's mantle).
Traces of patterns and borders on the Virgin's mantle above right arm, on Christ's right sleeve, on the Virgin's girdle and on the back of the throne.

Reverse
Carved in the round.

Object Condition
Missing: right hand of the Virgin (replaced according to Koechlin; Longhurst only mentions the broken object held by the Virgin which, she suggests was a stem of lilies); fleurons of the Virgin's crown, tip of Christ's right index finger.

Comments
The base (ivory panels on a wood core) is a modern addition and was made to correct the lean of the figure, presumably in the 19th century.

Provenance
Humann collection, Paris: sale, 8 February 1858, lot 2. In the possession of John Webb (b. 1799, d. 1880), London: purchased from him by the Museum in 1858.
Note: Longhurst was mistaken in stating that it was in the Daugny collection, Paris.

Bibliography
Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged according to the dates of their acquisition (London, 1868), I, p. 15.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 15-16.
W. Griggs, Portfolio of Ivories [London, 1904-1907], pt. XXII.
A. Maskell, Ivories (Connoisseurs Library), (London, 1905), pp. 169-70, pl. XXXVII.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 107; II, no. 104.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, II (London, 1929), p. 30, pl. XXVII.
M. H. Longhurst, ‘A fourteenth-century Gothic Ivory’, in Connoisseur 89 (1932), p. 43.
F. Bucher, ‘A Gothic Ivory Virgin and Child’, in Bulletin of the Associates in Fine Arts at York University 23 (1957), pp. 4-9 (p. 7, fig. 3).
Tardy, Les Ivoires (Paris, 1966), pl. on p. 60.
R. Salvini, Medieval Sculpture (London, 1969), p. 346, pl. 262.
R. H. Randall, 'A Monumental Ivory', in Gatherings in Honour of Dorothy Miner, ed. by U.E. McCracken, L.M.C. Randall and R.H. Randall, Jr (Baltimore, 1974), pp. 283-300 (pp. 288-94, 297, 300, fig. 7).
C. Little, 'Ivoires et art gothique', in Revue de l'art, 46 (1979), p. 63, fig. 16.
Les Fastes du Gothique: le siècle de Charles V, ed. by F. Baron, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1981, pp. 176-177.
P. Williamson, An Introduction to Medieval Ivory Carvings (London, 1982), p. 44, pl. 29.
The Medieval Treasury. The Art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum, ed. by P. Williamson (London, 1986), pp. 196-7.
P. Williamson, Medieval Sculpture and Works of Art. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (London, 1987), pp. 118, 120, fig. 3.
R. Koekkoek, Gotische ivoren in het Catharijneconvent (Utrecht, 1987), p. 19, fig. 4.
Herbert Read. A British Vision of World Art, ed. by B. Read and D. Thistlewood, exhibition catalogue, Leeds, Leeds City Art Gallery, 1993-94, no. 76.
The Medieval Treasury. The Art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum, ed. by P. Williamson (London, 1986), pp. 196-197.
A Grand Design. The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum, ed. by M. Baker and B. Richardson, exhibition catalogue, Baltimore et. al. (touring exhibition), 1997-1999, no. 42 (P. Williamson).
L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1998, p. 175.
A. Cascio and J. Levy, 'Les ivoires peints. La polychromie des statuettes d'ivoire' (introd. by D. Gaborit-Chopin), in Coré, 5 (1998), pp. 5-20 (pp. 9, 12, 16, 19).
Medieval and Renaissance treasures from the Victoria and Albert, ed. by P. Williamson and P. Motture (London, 2010), no. 20 (K. Kennedy).
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 6.