FRENCH, PROBABLY ILE-DE-FRANCE, SECOND QUARTER 14TH CENTURY | STANDING VIRGIN

This charming Virgin with Her enigmatic smile would have once held a Christ Child against her breast, supported on her left hip. The swaying S-curve of the Virgin's body, in elegant contrapposto, together with her round face with almond-shaped eyes and the curls framing her face, all indicate an origin in the North of France. Compare, in particular, to a Virgin and Child from Ile-de-France, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 25.120.229) and a limestone Madonna, also Ile-de-France, sold at Replica Shoes 's New York, 17 October 2000, lot 10.