The Virgin with Child, an angel and another figure

The bas-relief is carved into a tusk, maintaining the convex shape.
The subject is of a religious nature: the Madonna with Child, holding a sort of scroll in His hand, surrounded by two angels at the top and, at the bottom, by two smaller figures. The slighter figure has been identified as the nurse Salomé, while the other might be an adoring Wise Man or Saint Joseph, father of Jesus. The directly communicative style, with front-facing figures and wide open eyes, without spatial values, resembles the type of production widespread in Coptic Egypt for which, however, no information is available regarding the workshops or artists specialising in ivory objects.
Traditionally the centre of production is considered to be Alexandria in Egypt.The work came into the Castle museums following purchase of the Trivulzio family collections in 1935.