Martyrdom of saint Thomas Becket; soldiers in armour; swords; soldier striking saint Thomas on the head; soldier's sword broken in two; mitre on the ground; chaplain (Grim) holding a cross.
Pointed trefoils in the gables and spandrels.
London 1923: French, 14th century.
Longhurst 1929: France, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Natanson 1951: France, c. 1360-1380.
Williamson and Davies 2014:French, c. 1360-1380.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Recessed to receive the wax, with a raised border.
Object Condition
The bottom left corner has been broken and reattached with glue. Central hole in the upper part of the panel (probably for a ring or cord to fasten the tablets together).
Provenance
Collection of Mrs Mary Margaret Elizabeth Cowell (by 1923); given to the Museum in 1925.
Bibliography
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Carvings in Ivory, exhibition catalogue, London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1923, no. 122.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 217, n. 1.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 22, pl. XVII.
T. Borenius, Thomas à Becket in Art (London, 1932), p. 82, pl. XXXI/2.
J. Natanson, Gothic Ivories of the 13th and 14th Centuries (London, 1951), p. 38, fig. 53.
J. Warren, Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 3 vols (Oxford, 2014), Vol. 2: Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood, pp. 576, in relation to no. 169.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 126.
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