A Gothic Jewel From the Ile-de-France
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This exquisite late 13th-century Madonna and Child is the image of a blessed spirituality. Île-de-France, c 1270-1280. Virgin and Child in limestone carved in the round, the back hollowed out with traces of polychromy and gilding, seated on a bench decorated with foliate and vegetal friezes, a lion embracing a cub found under the Virgin’s feet on the socle, h. 116 cm/45.6 in. Estimate: €80,000/120,000 This sculpture entered the collection of Louis and Ernesta Stern—a banker and a literary woman respectively—and has remained in their family ever since. While sculptures of Mary treading on demonic beings, as well as the figuration of
