Niello (pilasters);cast gilt bronze (frame);silver (frame ornaments and lettering);horn (background);bone
Annunciation.
Wing, left
Kneeling angel holding a lily; God the Father making a blessing gesture.
Wing, right
Virgin in prayer; dove of the Holy Spirit; lectern with open book.
Inscription on interior reads, on left leaf: 'ave maria plena dominus/tecum benedicta/tu in mulieribus et benedit'; on right leaf: 'a tu in mulieribus et benedic[tus]/fructus ventris/tui ne timeas maria inve'.
Inscription on the reverse reads, on left leaf: 'ave regina cel/orum av/e domina ang/ lorum'; on right leaf: 'salve radix sa/ncta ex q/ua mundo lux/est orta v'.
Longhurst 1929: Italian, 2nd half of the 15th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: Italy (Venice or Florence), middle of 19th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Hinges
Heavy integral hinge mechanism.
Reverse
Frame decorated with raised border, pilasters, candelabra and grotesque ornament.
Comments
The composition derives from a painted Annunciation by Filippo Lippi of c. 1450 (Munich, Alte Pinakothek, Inv. no. 1072), formerly in the convent of the Suore Murate in Florence (see Williamson and Davies 2014).
Provenance
Purchased by Museum in 1857 from Eugène Piot, Paris, who is said to have acquired it in Venice.
Bibliography
List of Works of Art acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum during the Year 1867. Arranged according to the Dates of Acquisition (London, 1857), p. 11.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 14.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 101, pl. LXXXI.
Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance 1400-1600 (Detroit, Institute of Arts, 1958), cat. no. 398.
A Casa di Andrea Mantegna. Cultura Artistica a Mantova nel Quattrocento (Casa del Mantegna, 2006), p. 500.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 117.
All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.
