Virgin and Child with Bird in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 2009

Virgin and Child with Bird
Limestone with paint
French, Ile de France or Champagne
Carved and painted about 1450

Accession # 1997.125

Represented as Queen of Heaven, the Virgin holds a playful Christ Child who, in turn, has caught a bird in flight. The bird symbolizes the soul and its resurrection. The bird nourishes itself on the blood of Christ, an act that refers to the Eucharist.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.