Whoops! I meant #97
However, that wasn't the point of your post, was it? You said: "She was the mother of our Lord . . . but that is all she is seen as. No different from other true believers in the Bible.". I'm simply trying to get you to acknowledge that you are wrong... the early Church saw Mary as many things... not the least of which is the Ark of the New Covenant. As such, it is entirely appropriate that Jesus would be seated in her arms, just as the Lord was present over the propitiatory of the old Ark when making his prescriptions to Israel.
What you see in this art isn't simply an acknowledgement that Mary had to be there as a birth mother or as a likely one to hold Jesus up at such a tender age. What you see is a visual representation of a deep theology... that few remember.