Side 1: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist.
Side 2: Standing Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse); two standing angels holding candlesticks.
Angel supporting the volute. Foliated decoration.
Griggs 1904-1907: English (?), 14th century.
Koechlin 1924: France, 2nd half of 14th century.
Longhurst 1929: France, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: France, probably mid 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of gilding and polychromy: red (draperies of saint John and the Virgin), gold (dots along the hems on the Virgin side).
Reverse
Carved on both sides.
Object Condition
Missing: lower part of the angel supporting the volute (was carved from a separate piece of ivory).
Side 1:
Missing: right angel's candlestick.
Side 2:
Chipped volute.
Missing: Christ's arms (left arm later repair); cross (later repair).
Discolouration possibly caused by a flame (see left arm of the supporting angel).
Provenance
Possibly collection of Louis Fould (b. 1794, d. 1858), Paris: his sale, Paris, 4 June 1860 and following days, lot 1696 (uncertain). In the possession of John Webb (b. 1799, d. 1880), London, by 1862: purchased from him by the Museum in 1867.
Bibliography
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. 116.
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. 8.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), no. 298-67.
W. Griggs, Portfolio of Ivories [London, 1904-1907], pt. XIX.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 271, 276; II, no. 770.
W. W. Watts, Catalogue of Pastoral Staves, Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 1924), no. 23, pl. 14.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 35.
Tardy, Les Ivoires (Paris, 1966), plate on pg. 37.
Een hogere werkelijkheid, Duitse en Franse beeldhouwkunst 1200-1600 uit het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, ed. by F. Scholten and G. de Werd, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Museum Kurhaus Kleef, 2004, p. 156.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 149.
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