Félix Lecomte (1737-1817) carved a large marble of the Virgin and Child for an altar in Rowen Cathedral, on which the present ivory is based. The pendant for Lecomte's marble is a figure of Saint Cecilia by Clodion, carved between 1775-1776, by which time Lecomte's Virgin and Child had already been carved. Both statues show the classical influences of the respective sculptors' visits to Rome (cf. Karlsruhe, op.cit.).