The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The pose indicates the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. A fuller rendering of the type would feature a crescent moon beneath her feet, following the iconography drawn from Revelation. The belief was embraced with particular enthusiasm in Spain and her colonial empire. An enormous number of ivory images of the Virgin were produced in the Philippines and many, like this example, show her robe distinctively tucked in back. The back of her head and hair were carved separately to permit the insertion of glass eyes, a realistic touch found in much Spanish devotional sculpture.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art