Inv. 7395
Legend of the King of Mercia or Judgement of Paris.
Knight in armour asleep; two naked ladies (one missing); standing male onlooker with hanging purse; attendant with horse; shield.
Tourcoing 1906: Flanders, late 15th century.
Koechlin 1924: Eastern France, Northern France or Flanders, early 16th century.
Cleveland 1967: Northern France, early 16th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Carved in the round.
Object Condition
Missing: upper part of the piece, including the upper part of a tree (?); head of the horse; head of the attendant beside the horse; face of one of the ladies, head of the other. Of the third one, only the feet remain. Knight's head chipped.
The damage in some places is reminiscent of fire damage.
Comments
This is the only candle holder listed in Koechlin. The fact that the first female figure seems to be holding a fruit would seem to argue in favour of the Legend of Paris hypothesis.
Provenance
Found in Gisors. Collection of M. Machart; acquired from him in 1906.
Bibliography
Exposition d'art ancien, exhibition catalogue, Tourcoing, Palais des Beaux-arts, 1906, no. 233.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 414, 455; II, no. 1244; III, pl. CCIV.
W. D. Wixom, Treasures of Medieval France, exhibition catalogue, Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967, p. 320, repr. on p. 321.
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