This exceptional figure of the Virgin and Child originates from a workshop in Normandy of the late 14th century. Of finest quality and unusually well preserved, the sculpture is a rare testament to the artistic production of north western France at this time. The work can be compared to another figure of the Virgin and Child that formerly stood in Coutances in Normandy but was destroyed in WWII (see Béranger-Menand, op. cit., with illus.). The almost identical ornamentation of the crown and the similar facial features, as well as drapery of the Virgin's gown, which is directly comparable to that in the Coutances work, the pose of the child and the identical gesture of the mother - pinching the child's right foot between the thumb and index finger of her right hand - indicate with near certainty that both figures were carved in the same workshop and most probably even by the same master. Dimensions 105.5 x 28.7 x 17.8 cm Artist or Maker Normandy around 1400 Medium Carved in the round, the reverse slightly flattened and only partially worked. With traces of the original blue and red polychromy Condition Report In very good condition, only minor wear to the reverse and the plinth. Literature For the comparison work formerly housed in Coutances see B. Béranger-Menand: La statuaire médiévale en Normandie occidentale. La Vierge à l´Enfant XIIIe-XVIe siècle, Tome 2, Corpus, Saint Lo (Conseil Général de la Manche) 2004, p. 188, fig. 160. Provenance Private collection, France. Notes VAT: Margin scheme (+ import tax)