 After a relative shortage of ivory in Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries, the material once again became in abundance with new trade opening up on the Atlantic ports, particularly those of Normandy.The ivory workshops of Paris were the most admired ones, and the "Virgin and Child" must have originated from one of these.It is known to have been in the possession of the Sainte-Chapelle by the late 1270s, as it was recorded in the earliest inventory of the church, written some time between 1265 and 1279.