Gothic Ivories Project | Statuette; known as Laval Virgin (Vierge de Laval) (Front)

Seated Virgin and Child. Virgin seated on a folding chair decorated with a large rose; Christ Child standing on two cushions beside the Virgin.

Koechlin 1924: France, 2nd half of the 15th century.
Gaborit-Chopin 1978: France (Val de Loire), mid-15th century.
Randall 1985: France (Touraine), mid-15th century.
Detroit 1997: France (Touraine), c. 1450-1460.
Gaborit-Chopin 1999: Touraine, early 15th century.
Museum's opinion 2010: France (Touraine), c. 1420-1440.

Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Carved in the round.

Object Condition
Missing: thumb of the Virgin's right hand; halo of the Virgin, object in her hand (bird or apple), brooch, corner ornaments of the cushions (probably originally of gold or silver gilt).
Right hand of the Virgin was broken and reglued at a slightly incorrect angle. Old cut on the base (maybe not original), probably for attachment.

Provenance
Collection of Chanoine Sauvé of Laval Cathedral: sold in 1892. Bought by Henry Walters from Jacques Seligmann in 1913; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Bibliography
L. de Farcy, 'Epaves', in Revue d'art chrétien, 4th series, no. 9 (1898), pp. 287-292, pl. XIV and XV.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 352; II, no. 982; pl. CLXXII.
Catalogue of the Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, 1964), no. 17.
R. H. Randall, Medieval Ivories in the Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, 1969), no. 25.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires du Moyen-Age (Freiburg, 1978), pp. 171, 173-174, 213, no. and fig. 268.
R. H. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 1985), no. 285.
Das goldene Rössl: Ein Meisterwerk der Pariser Hofkunst um 1400, exhibition catalogue, Munich, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, 1995, pp. 234-235.
Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. by Peter Barnet, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, no. 71.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, 'Les Ivoires au XVe siècle', in Art et société en France au XVe siècle, dir. C. Prigent (Paris, 1999), pp. 251-258 (p. 254, fig. 1)

All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.