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Figure of the Virgin and Child
Virgin and Child
Figure of the Virgin and Child
Italian (Faenza)
dated 1551
Medium/Technique
Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
Dimensions
Height: 63.5 cm (25 in.)
Credit Line
Kiyi and Edward M. Pflueger Collection. Bequest of Edward M. Pflueger and Gift of Kiyi Powers Pflueger
Accession Number2006.1054
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
While maiolica vessels and plates were made throughout Italy, this standing Virgin and Child is part of a small group of high quality large scale maiolica sculptures which were likely made in the eastern Italian communes of the Marches and Emilia-Romagna. The Virgin’s embrace of the Christ child is firm but tender, stilling the child’s youthful energy and instilling the pair with a sense of both solidity and intimacy. The existence of a nearly identical sculpture in the local museum in Pesaro suggests that this figure may have been a popular image of local devotion that was reproduced in multiple versions.
DescriptionIn blue cloak, her ochre dress with stiff leaves in black.
ProvenanceKiyi and Edward M. Pflueger, New York