A detailed technological and scientific examination was carried out on a terracotta relief sculpture of the Madonna and Child attributed to the School of Venocchio which had been in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery since 1895 but never previously examined in detail. Initial examination revealed that it had been heavily over-restored in the nineteenth century. All these additions were removed during cleaning. The original terracotta relief was examined in great detail and this established the stages and techniques used in its construction and showed that it was an original piece of sculpture and not a copy. Thermoluminescence dating proved that the relief was made between 1416 and 1546 and a comparison of composition and style suggests that a date in the 1460s is appropriate.