The Philippine Madonna and child in London

THERE are no queues of devout crowds. No one is kneeling and praying before her. Walk too quickly along the hall and you’ll miss her. She is in the Sculpture Room of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (The V&A). She is small and unobtrusive. She stands in a glass case, among other objects of antiquity and curiosity, holding the Christ Child in her arms, looking quite beautiful and somewhat mysterious.

The V&A’s Virgin and the Christ Child is an exquisitely carved ivory statuette that was made, in all likelihood, in Manila by Chinese or Filipino sculptors, sometime in the 18th century or possibly even earlier. The vagaries are what make this figure so enigmatic. I was overjoyed to see her. London’s museums hold a great many of the world’s treasures, but it is rare for Hispano-Filipino ivories, as such pieces are known, to reach here and be on public display. More usually they end up in private hands. In Spain they can be found in a number of religious and royal collections in Madrid, Valladolid, and Seville.