Angel sitting on a sphere statue type 1

The first in this set of sphere-seated angels traces its lineage to the iconography of Sophia, divine wisdom, who in Eastern Christian thought presides over the cosmos. By the Renaissance, the figure of the angel atop the orb had merged with the ancient Greek motif of Nike on the globe — victory poised above the earth — and acquired a new gentleness. Where Nike commanded, the angel companions; where the goddess celebrated triumph, the angel merely watches and waits.