Gothic Ivories Project | Casket (coffret; frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Lid
Saint John the Baptist holding the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei); saint Agnes with a lamb; unidentified male saint (possibly saint Barnabas); saint Catherine of Alexandria holding a wheel and martyr's palm.
Body, front
Olibrius, prefect of Antioch, meets saint Margaret spinning; horse. Saint Margaret interrogated before Olibrius (continued on the right end).
End, right
Two crowned seated figures of Olibrius (both part of scenes continued on the front and back panels); covered cup.
Body, back
Saint Margaret whipped before the governor (part); saint Margaret brought back to her cell.
End, left
Saint Margaret emerging from the dragon unharmed; beheading of saint Margaret; martyrdom of saint Margaret.

Koechlin 1924: France, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Longhurst 1929: French, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: French (Paris), c. 1350-1375.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy and gilding.

Reverse
Carved on all sides.

Object Condition
Serious cracks from dessication, especially on lid.

Provenance
Collection of Louis Fidel Debruge-Duménil (b. 1788, d. 1838): sale, Paris, 23 January- 12 March 1850, lot 1492. Collection of Prince Petr Soltykoff (b. c. 1801, d. 1889): sold, Paris, Drouot, 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29 April and 1 May 1861, lot 340; purchased by John Webb (b. 1799, d. 1880), London; purchased from him by the Museum in 1867.

Bibliography
J. Labarte, Description des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge-Duménil (Paris, 1847), no. 1492.
Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediaeval, Renaissance, and more recent periods on loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862..., revised edition, exhibition catalogue (London, 1863), no. 130.
Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged according to the dates of their acquisition (London, 1868), I, p. 6.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 105.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 180; II, no. 347.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 20, pl. XV.
R. H. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 1985), p. 228.
G. Ameri and C. di Fabio, Luca Fieschi. Cardinale, Collezionista, Meccenate (1300-1336) (Milan, 2011), pp. 85-86.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 169 and in relation to no. 230.

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