*A Virgin and Child carved in full relief from ivory, with t - Lot 13

*A Virgin and Child carved in full relief from ivory, with traces of gilding. Standing with her hips slightly turned outward, her head crowned with a silver wreath, Mary holds her Son on her left arm; her oval face has a gentle expression, with almond-shaped, elongated eyes and a delicate mouth with upturned corners; it is framed by wavy hair beneath a short veil; she is dressed in a long gown with a neckline marked by a small cutout and a cloak, one panel of which falls over the front, forming a voluminous drape; deep, angular folds under the arms, forming a wide, flat cone with a cascading edge at the front, flaring vertically at the back; the Child is dressed in a long tunic revealing his feet; numerous remnants of the orange ground with gold highlights corresponding to the motifs that adorned the necklines, sleeves, edge of the veil, and the mantel’s fringes. Île-de-France, Paris, circa 1260/1270 H. 28.3 cm On a pedestal Labels from the Blumka and Böhler galleries under the base (some damage and missing parts, such as the Child’s head; crown and skull cap replaced) CICen dated 12/19/2025 Provenance: - Carlo Micheli Collection (1809–1898), Paris - Auction, London, Christie’s, November 13, 2003, lot 241 - Blumka-Böhler Gallery, New York–Munich. This beautiful Virgin and Child is part of a group of fewer than twenty cataloged carved ivory statuettes depicted standing, which can still be dated to the 13th century, predating the significant production of ivory workshops in the following century. Alongside the “monumental masterpiece”—to use Danielle Gaborit-Chopin’s apt description—that is the Virgin of the Sainte-Chapelle, preserved at the Louvre and standing 41 cm tall (inv. OA 57)—this one from the former collection of Carlo Micheli ranks among the largest known examples, well above the 25 cm threshold below which the majority of these Virgins fall. Its stylistic features are very close to those of the "Golden Virgin" on the trumeau of the transept of Amiens Cathedral (c. 1250) in the expression of her smile, the shape of the drapery, and the position of the Child (fig. a). Although it has survived to the present day with some damage, this Virgin is nonetheless impressive for the high quality of its execution, particularly in the rendering of the face and the hands with their long, slender fingers. The delicate traces left by the gold of her orfrois, comparable in design to those of the Virgin in the Timbal collection—which have been linked to the Psalter of Saint Louis—not only confirm its dating to around 1260, also underscore the preciousness of this statuette with its powerful presence (Louvre Museum, inv. OA 2583, fig. b). Carlo Micheli (1809–1898), a native of the Lucca region, settled in Paris in the early 19th century, where he worked as a mold maker, producing plaster sculptures for collectors, art academies, and museums. At the same time, he methodically and discerningly built a remarkable collection of medieval and early Renaissance works, comprising 451 pieces kept in his home on Rue Bonaparte. Upon his death, the collection was acquired by the Antwerp collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, much to the regret of the Louvre, whose curator Gaston Migeon (1861–1930) wrote with frustration: “Why will none of this ever be in the Louvre? " Today, it forms the founding collection of the Mayer van den Bergh Museum and will be the subject of an exhibition at the National Museum of the Middle Ages in 2028. Works consulted: - R. Koechlin, Les ivoires gothiques français, Paris, 1968, cat. 73–75, pl. XXVI. - D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires du Moyen Âge, Paris, 1978, pp. 136–137 and 205. - R. Randall Jr. (ed.), Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery, New York, 1985, pp. 185 and 201. - P. Barnet, Images in Ivory, Detroit, 1997, pp. 42 and 52–56. - D. Gaborit-Chopin, Medieval Ivory, 5th–15th Centuries, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2003, pp. 293–310.