The Virgin Mary holds the Christ Child on her right hip and stands upon a crescent moon, an allusion to the passage in Revelation 12 that describes Mary as "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet." Christ grasps her exposed nipple as a sign of his human infancy. This small limestone statue bears traces of its original multicolored painting, and Mary's contrapposto stance (where she supports her weight on one leg) may speak to the sculptor's knowledge of Italian Renaissance art. The statue would have served as a devotional image in a parish church, set on an altar or architectural support above eye level so that viewers could have met the holy figures' gazes.
This image is in the public domain.