Statuette of the Virgin and Child
A boxwood statuette of the Virgin standing with the Child, 9 cm tall: a palm-sized early 16th-century Flemish carving that renders even the grain of the drapery folds. Full commentary ↓
Couldn't load the puzzle image.
Turn on piece outlines to see piece positions on this picture too
Drag the pieces into place · When zoomed in, drag an empty spot to move around
You can also play with a keyboard — Tab to the board, thenSpace pick a piece, Arrow keys move it (with Shift for small steps),Esc deselect, R rotate a piece (Shift+R the other way)
Statuette of the Virgin and Child is a wooden object by an unknown maker (early 16th century) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 9 cm.
In the pictureOn a black base, the Virgin carved in boxwood stands holding the Child. She wears a veil on her head and a mantle with heavy overlapping folds, and the Child sits on his mother's arm, reaching out his hand. The grain and color of the wood show as they are, with no paint. Its actual height is 9 cm.
BackgroundBoxwood has such a tight grain that facial expressions and drapery folds can be carved even in a finger-sized figure, so in early 16th-century Flanders and France it was used for rosary beads and small devotional images. Statuettes like this were for private prayer and were kept on a desk or in a bedroom. The pose, with the body twisted slightly into an S-curve, is typical of late Gothic statues of the Virgin.
Puzzle tipEven with few pieces it is not easy, since everything is one brown. Fit the Virgin's face, the Child and the black base pieces first, then join the folds of the mantle by the direction of the deeply shadowed grooves. Fill the bright background pieces starting with those that catch the statue's silhouette. 24 pieces are recommended.
- Culture
- Franco-Netherlandish
- Classification
- Sculpture-Wood
- Medium
- Boxwood
- Dimensions
- 9 cm
- Credit line
- Bequest of Nanette B. Kelekian, 2020
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
In these collections: Christmas Masterpiece Puzzles
Stories about this work
- A Thousand Years From One Collector: Five Objects From the Kelekian Bequest
From 6th-century Byzantine ivory to 16th-century Flemish boxwood carving. Crossing a thousand years with five objects one collector left to the museum in 2020.
- From the Annunciation to the Adoration of the Shepherds: 10 Masterpiece Puzzles for Christmas
Ten masterpiece puzzles tied to the Christmas story, arranged in the order of the story, with the actual piece counts and which difficulty suits each.
- Why Are There So Many Madonna and Child Paintings? Painting the Same Scene for Centuries
This site alone has 12 paintings of the Madonna and Child. Why the same scene was repeated for centuries, and how to find the differences within it.
