Courting couple (meeting of lovers); man kneeling before a lady; cupid (possibly originally with bow and arrow); male and female attendants; tree; dogs.
Dalton 1909: Italian, late 14th century.
Egbert 1929: Italy (Venice?), ca. 1400.
Museum's opinion 2011: Italian, late 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Back turned with a depression for (missing) mirror; part of rim has been bevelled away. Modern ink inscriptions: 'W. M' (for William Maskell) and '135'.
Object Condition
Pierced with eight holes which have been filled in.
Provenance
Collection of William Maskell (b. 1814, d. 1890) (no. 135): bought from him by the British Museum in 1856.
Bibliography
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 415, Pl. XC.
D. D. Egbert, 'North Italian Gothic Ivories in the Museo Cristiano of the Vatican Library', in Art Studies 7 (1929), pp. 168-207 [p. 182- 183, fig. 26].
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