Madonna of the Great Wall. Dimensions: 23 x 30.5 x 5.4 cm.

This half length Virgin Mary is holding a book in her left hand and Baby Jesus in her right, who is standing up and stretching out for an embrace. This image is a copy of the early 17th Century Madonna of Fontanelice, also known as the Pillar or Rio Madonna. This ceramic plaque was produced in Imola and stands out for the embossed date in the top corners of the tablet: 1/6/38 These digits are so blatantly displayed that they are more likely to be a reference to a religious event than a manufacturing date, but what that event is is a mystery. What is even more curious is that these same embossed digits can be found on numerous other contemporary and successive plaques.