French, Troyes, first half 16th century

Sotheby's, New York, 25 January 2001, lot 4;

Where acquired.

Troyes, located in the Champagne region of France, emerged as a significant centre for limestone sculpture production during the sixteenth century. The city's prosperity, driven by trade and textile industries, supported a flourishing artistic culture. Local quarries provided high-quality limestone, ideal for intricate carving.

This limestone sculpture is a particularly fine example with well delineated details and elegant proportions. The composition features a charming and rare detail of the Christ child sliding a ring over the Virgin’s middle finger. The Virgin has a typical almond-shaped face with small upward-tilted eyes and mouth. Her drapery is heavy, ending in soft folds with a pearled edge and with wide open sleeves. She wears a crown that is inset with fictive stones, similar to the crown adorning the Virgin from the church of Saint-Parre-aux-Tertres, now at the Musée de Vauluisant, Troyes (Boccador, op. cit., p. 334, no. 374)

Her hair is long and curls away from her face, which is consistent with a Virgin and Child sculpture in the Basilique Saint-Urbain de Troyes (Avery, op. cit. p. 67, pl. 7). The Saint Mary Magdalene from the church of Saint-Pierre-és-Liens in Ervy-le-Châtel (Leroy, op. cit., p. 210) also has these distinctive long curls which cascade down her shoulders much as in the present Virgin. The Saint Magdalene also shares a central rosette motif with our Virgin across the chest at the top of the dress.

RELATED LITERATURE

P. E. Leroy, Sculptures en Champagne au XVIe siècle, Dijon, 2009, pp. 59-64; J. Boccador, Statuaire médiévale en France de 1400 à 1530, Zoug, 1974; C. Avery, Sculpture from Troyes in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1974, pp. 62-69; W. H. Forsyth, ‘The Virgin and Child in French fourteenth century sculpture. A method of classification’, The Art Bulletin, September 1957, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 171-182