Gothic Ivories Project | Saddle (selle); known as the Saddle of Ercole d'Este (Back)

Saddle (selle); known as the Saddle of Ercole d'Este (Back)

Saddle (selle); known as the Saddle of Ercole d'Este (Back)

View other images of this object

Front

Right side

Left side

Links

Subject
Secular. Courtly love. Religious. Old Testament. Saints.

Repository Institution
www.galleriaestense.org

To purchase an image
www.galleriaestense.org

Modena, Galleria Estense

Inv. 2461

Bone;wood;leather

Height: 44 mm
Width: 450 mm
Length: 580 mm

Front
Courting couple (meeting of lovers); lady aiming her bow and arrow at a youth, from the castle battlements; fashionable dress; scroll; trees. Wreath containing the coat of arms of Duke Ercole I d'Este, Count of Ferrara. Lady crowning her lover with a chaplet; couple embracing; scroll; trees.
Right side
Lady holding a flower; trees; scroll with a rosette; bearded head. Animal head with scroll with inscription 'deus fortitu'; clouds.
Back
Samson fighting the lion; inscription: 'Deus fortitudo mea'. Saint George and the dragon; arour; shield; sword; inscription: 'Deus adiutor'.
Left side
Head; scroll with inscription 'deus forti'. Youth with a hawk on his wrist.
Roped border; foliated decoration.

Museum's opinion 2014: North Italian, c. 1470.

Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Engraved on all sides.

Provenance
Collection of the Duke Ercole I d'Este, Count of Ferrara (b. 1471, d. 1505); the museum opened to the public in 1854.

Bibliography
J. von Schlosser, 'Elfenbeinsättel des ausgehenden Mittelalters', in Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, 15 (1894), pp. 260-294, no. 17. Fully accessible online as part of the Heidelberger historische Bestände: http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/jbksak1894/0318 [accessed 24/07/2013].
M. Verő, 'Bemerkungen zu den beinsätteln aus der Sigismundzeit', in Sigismundus rex et imperator: Kunst und Kultur zur Zeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg 1387-1437, exhibition catalogue, Budapest and Luxemburg, 2006, pp. 270-278 (p. 278, no. 25).

Image

© Galleria Estense, Modena.
Credit line: Su concessione del Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo - Archivo Fotografico della SBSAE di Modena e Reggio Emilia.

All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.

Please remember to acknowledge any use of the site in publications and lectures as: 'Gothic Ivories Project at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, www.gothicivories.courtauld.ac.uk', followed by the date you accessed the site.