Inv. Víd. 12
Seated Virgin and Child (Sedes Sapientiae); Christ seated on the Virgin's left knee; Virgin holding a fruit in her right hand; throne.
Carved inscription: 'Sancta Maria'.
Randall 1993: Scandinavian, 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Virgin carved in the round.
Back of the throne flat and smooth with holes.
Object Condition
Vertical cracks.
Right arm of Christ broken and possibly replaced.
Break at the junction of the Virgin's arms with the rest of her body.
Comments
According to Randall, this piece, like a statuette in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, was produced in a chess atelier.
Provenance
Found in the graveyard of the Presthólar church in Northeastern Iceland, near Raufarhöfn. Private collection of an Icelandic businessman; acquired by the museum in 1908.
Bibliography
E. von Philippowich, Elfenbein (Brunswick, 1961), p. 117, fig. 87.
R. H. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 1985), p. 42 (in relation to no. 19).
All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.
