Devotional plaque with The Madonna and Child with Donors

Devotional plaque with The Madonna and Child with Donors

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Unlike many maiolica objects, this plaque has no function beyond displaying a painted image to the viewer. It retains the sense of domesticity associated with Renaissance maiolica vessels and tableware, but was made to encourage religious devotion. . The small format and tightly cropped view of the Virgin and Child create an intimate relationship with the viewer, and the small kneeling donors at lower left present a model for worship in the home. The plaque imitates fifteenth-century panel painting and relief sculpture in both subject and form and even includes an integral frame.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Devotional plaque with The Madonna and Child with DonorsDevotional plaque with The Madonna and Child with DonorsDevotional plaque with The Madonna and Child with DonorsDevotional plaque with The Madonna and Child with DonorsDevotional plaque with The Madonna and Child with Donors

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.