Gothic Ivories Project | Casket, with arches and quatrefoils (coffret; frise d'arcatures; quatre-feuilles) (Body, back)

Casket, with arches and quatrefoils (coffret; frise d'arcatures; quatre-feuilles) (Body, back)

Casket, with arches and quatrefoils (coffret; frise d'arcatures; quatre-feuilles) (Body, back)

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Lid

End, right

End, left

Body, front

Links

Subject
Religious. Life of Christ. Infancy of Christ.

Repository Institution
www.english-heritage.org.uk

To purchase an image
www.englishheritageimages.com

London, The Wernher Collection, Ranger's House (English Heritage)

88259336 (J-EE166)

Ivory;gilt bronze (fittings)

Height: 84mm
Width: 246mm
Depth: 103mm

Body, front
Annunciation; vase of lilies; dove of the Holy Spirit. Visitation. Nativity and Annunciation to the Shepherds. Adoration of the Magi.
End, right
Massacre of the Innocents. Flight into Egypt; Virgin holding the swaddled child.
Body, back
Presentation in the Temple; maid holding a candlestick and a basket of doves brought as offerings; Christ standing on the altar between the Virgin and Simeon. Doubting Thomas (the incredulity of saint Thomas). Baptism of Christ by saint John the Baptist; angel holding Christ's tunic. Last Supper.
End, left
Raising of Lazarus. Entry into Jerusalem.
Lid
Register 1: Flagellation. Crucifixion; swooning Virgin supported by Holy Women; saint John the Evangelist and onlookers holding scrolls. Deposition with the Virgin holding Christ's hand; Joseph of Arimathea holding Christ's body; man with pincers removing the nail from Christ's feet; sun and moon. Entombment (Anointing of Christ's body), with Holy Women.
Register 2: Last Supper with saint John the Evangelist leaning on Christ's breast; Christ feeding an apostle across the table (possibly Judas). Christ washing the feet of saint Peter. Agony in the Garden (Christ at Gethsemane). Betrayal (Taking of Christ; Kiss of Judas); Christ restores Malchus' ear, cut by saint Peter.
Pointed trefoils.

Koechlin Number: 0822

Koechlin 1924: French, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Natanson 1951: French, c. 1360-1380.
Museum's opinion 2009: French (Paris), c. 1375.

Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Carved on all sides. Blue and white label with inscription inside the lid: 'Collection Wernher no. 166'. Same label on the bottom. Earlier blue and white label with ink inscription: 'H. VII/1' (?).

Provenance
Collection of Ralph Bernal (b. 1783, d. 1854), London; collection of Martin Heckscher, Vienna: his sale, Christie's, 4-6 May 1898, lot 193; Collection of Sir Julius Wernher (d. 1912), Bath House, London; Wernher sale, Christie's, London, 5 July 2000, lot W62; remained in the Wernher collection; on loan to English Heritage and displayed at Ranger's House since 2002.

Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 297; II, no. 822.
J. Natanson, Gothic Ivories of the 13th and 14th Centuries (London, 1951), p. 38, figs. 51-52.

Image

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