The statue came originally from the parish church of St Germain, near Troyes. Its a typical example of the best sculpture executed in Troyes during the early sixteenth century. St Margaret is shown with her symbol of the dragon. Pregnant women called upon her to protect them in childbirth because of her miraculous escape from the belly of a dragon.
The saints stands, her hands clasped before her in prayer. Between her feet facing to the left uis a winged dragon which bites at her robe.Notable are the finely cut flower bandeau binding the hair which falls in waving curls over her shoulder.
Saint Margaret of Antioch, also called Saint Marina (flourished 3rd or 4th century, Antioch, Syria; Eastern feast day July 13; Western feast day July 20), virgin martyr and one of the 14 Holy Helpers (a group of saints jointly commemorated on August 8), who was one of the most venerated saints during the Middle Ages. Her story, generally regarded to be fictitious, is substantially that of the Eastern St. Marina of Antioch, whose feast day is July 17, and is related to that of St. Pelagia of Antioch, who is also known as Margaret or Marina.
During the reign (284–305) of the Roman emperor Diocletian, Margaret allegedly refused marriage with the prefect Olybrius at Antioch and was consequently beheaded after undergoing extravagant trials and tortures. Her designation as patron saint of expectant mothers (particularly in difficult labour) and her emblem, a dragon, are based on one of her trials: Satan, disguised as a dragon, swallowed Margaret; his stomach, however, soon rejecting her, opened, and let her out unharmed. In 1969 Margaret’s feast day, formerly July 20, was eliminated in the revised calendar of the Roman Catholic church because it is doubtful whether she ever existed. Nevertheless, during the medieval period she ranked among the most famous saints; her voice was among those attested to have been heard by St. Joan of Arc.