LONDON.- A 13th-century ivory statuette of the Virgin & Child hidden in a private collection since the middle of the 20th century will resurface at a Sotheby's European Sculpture & Works of Art auction in London on 4 December 2013. The discovery has led Erik Bijzet, Sotheby's European Sculpture & Works of Art specialist, on a remarkable journey as he uncovered the extraordinary story behind its history. The ivory has also been on its own equally remarkable journey down the centuries, and at the heart of it all, a hardy community of English nuns who kept the object safe. Two of England's foremost noble families also played a role in its provenance and in the middle of the 19th century, the statuette was celebrated as a relic which was kept out of the grasp of Henry VIII, Netherlandish Calvinists and the French Catholic League.

Commenting on the statuette, Erik Bijzet, said: “This is one of those classic ‘over the counter’ instances when a photograph of an object was presented to Sotheby’s. Immediately I saw that it had something very special and when I first laid my eyes on it and held it, I knew it was the start of what was to become one of the most rewarding challenges in my career. Uncovering documents, many of them centuries old, revealed tantalising new discoveries until the full story finally emerged. The statuette is wondrously detailed, as is its history.”

Estimated at £800,000-1,200,000, the statuette dates to circa 1250-1260 and was most likely made in either the Meuse Valley or Northern France. It was brought to England by the Bridgettine nuns of Syon Monastery in 1809. Fleeing Lisbon and the French invasion of Portugal under Napoleon's troops, the nuns were stepping foot on English soil for the first time since their order's exile in 1559. The ten nuns departed with a set of crates containing some of their most prized works of art. A list of items which was probably compiled by Sister Mary Bridget Smith in Lisbon circa 1723 includes an "Image of our Blessed Virgin of Ave Maris Stella". Although not conclusive, there is tantalising description describing how a special object came into possession of the nuns in England when they were housed on the banks of the Thames at Isleworth in a Bridgettine Abbey established by King Henry IV in the early 15th century and named Syon after the biblical city. The nuns were taking supper one evening when it miraculously appeared on their doorstep. At this hour the nuns were enclosed in their quarters and also protected by an outer wall so they were surprised to hear the bell outside their refectory. No one was there on answering the door, but a hatch near the door contained an object with a note inside on which was written "AVE MARIS STELLA". Since the ivory being presented for sale at Sotheby's has a cavity on the underside - perfect for concealing a note - it may be the special object referred to in 1723. The community promptly took on the eponymous prayer and treasured the object for centuries after the incident.

King Henry V had laid the first stone at Syon with great ceremony in 1415. Judging by some sparse architectural remains and the size of the foundations buried under the Duke of Northumberland’s Syon House, the buildings apparently rivaled the Gothic splendor of Eton Hall and King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. Given its association with the royal family and its wealth, Syon suffered immensely during the Reformation. When the community fled in 1559, its first stop was in the Netherlands. However, in Flanders the nuns were bullied by hostile Calvanists. Moving on to France, in Rouen they were at the centre of a conflict between the Catholic League and the Navarre. During the subsequent flight to Spain they were harried by corrupt authorities and forced to set sail for Portugal. In 1594 the Bridgettines finally settled in Lisbon and secured firm support from the King.

The nuns remained in Lisbon for over 200 years, enduring the devastation of their monastery by fire in 1651 and the earthquake which befell the city in 1755. The threat of Napoleon proved too much to bear, but the community’s decision to leave Portugal for England in the nineteenth century proved to be misguided: poverty forced some of the younger nuns into other monasteries whilst elder sisters fell ill or passed away. By 1836 only two nuns remained and they decided to trade their precious belongings for shelter and a pension of £30 a year with John Talbot, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury. The ivory statuette is first recorded in his possession. The Earl bequeathed it to his son Bertram Arthur Talbot, the 17th Earl of Shrewsbury, who died young in 1852 and without an heir. The contents of Alton Towers, the princely seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury, were offered at auction and the ivory statuette is listed as lot 1956 in the catalogue where it is described as ‘the Virgin seated holding the Infant in her lap’ and, erroneously, as ‘a very beautiful Italian carving in ivory’. It was withdrawn with other objects from Syon for unknown reasons. Correspondence from Syon’s archives suggests that these objects were divided among the Earl’s executors and other relations. The ivory was given to Charlotte Sophia Fitzalan Howard, the Duchess of Norfolk, the Earl of Shrewsbury’s only Catholic relative, and moved to Arundel Castle. In 1861 it was presented to the Duchess’ new son-in-law James Hope-Scott who twice loaned it to the South Kensington Museum (today, the Victoria & Albert Museum). In 1872, following the death of Hope-Scott, it was collected from the museum and disappeared. The ivory did not resurface until 1949 when an ancestor of the current owner acquired it from a well-known art dealer.

The statuette depicts the Virgin enthroned with the Child on her left leg and a lily in her right hand, a composition which seems to have been particularly current in Gothic ivory carvings made in the second and third quarters of the 13th century. It served as an important image for the veneration of Mary’s dual role as mother of God and man because she is represented with her young son whilst enthroned and wearing the crown of the Queen of Heaven. Here, the humanised facial features are further enlivened by the voluminous drapery and highly detailed carving.