In the late Middle Ages, modelling with pipe clay (which is white after firing) became a flourishing branch of decorative art in the Low Countries. The inexpensive material and the use of moulds opened the way to large-scale production of sculptures in this medium, which became an affordable alternative to wooden or ivory figurines. This is a fragment of a statue of the Virgin Mary that was hidden in the tower of the Oude Kerk in Soest during the Iconoclastic Fury in 1566.