Gothic Ivories Project | Game box (boîte à jeux) (Body, front)

Height: 175mm; 32mm (lid panels); 71mm (side panels)
Width: 225mm; 32mm (lid panels); 35mm (side panels)
Depth: 139mm

Lid
Register 1: saint John the Baptist holding the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei). Coronation of the Virgin; Christ making a blessing gesture. Saint Catherine of Alexandria with broken wheel and martyr's palm.
Register 2: saint Barbara with tower and martyr's palm. Annunciation; vase of lilies; dove of the Holy Spirit. Saint Anthony abbot with a staff.
Register 3: saint Laurence holding a gridiron. Noli me tangere. Saint Margaret emerging from the dragon unharmed.
Body, front
Saint John the Evangelist with the poisoned cup and martyr's palm. Saint Peter holding a key. Saint Paul with a sword. Saint James the Greater with a staff and satchel.
Body, back
Saint Thomas, Saint Simon with a saw. Saint with an axe (saint Jude (Thaddeus), Matthew or Matthias?). Saint holding a book (saint Jude Thaddeus).
End, left
Saint James the Lesser with a fuller's club. Musician angel playing the harp. Saint Philip with a cross.
End, right
Saint Andrew with a saltire cross. Musician angel playing a gittern. Saint Bartholomew with a flaying knife.
Bottom: chequered pattern (chess board).
Crosshatched background.

Koechlin 1924: Northern or Eastern France, late 15th century.
Gaborit-Chopin 2003 and Museum's opinion 2010: Flanders?, 2nd half of the 15th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of gilding and polychromy: red and blue (reapplied; see unpublished report by A. Cascio and J. Levy, 1999).

Reverse
On bottom, labelled: 'N 1073', '911', 'A. 83'.

Object Condition
Several panels damaged or cracked.
The inlay decoration on the sides is, perhaps, not original, although similar decoration can be seen under the decorative raised bands of the lid.

Comments
The decoration of the wood is 'alla certosina'.

Provenance
Collection of Pierre Révoil, Lyon (not catalogued); acquired by the Musée du Louvre in 1828.

Bibliography
M. de Laborde, Notice des émaux, bijoux et objets divers exposés dans les galeries du musée du Louvre (Paris, 1857), no. 911.
A. Sauzay, Musée de la Renaissance [Musée du Louvre]. Notice des ivoires (Paris, 1863), no. 83.
L. Courajod, La Collection Révoil du musée du Louvre (Caen, 1886), no. 72.
E. Molinier, Musée National du Louvre. Catalogue des ivoires (Paris, 1896), no. 135.
J. von Schlosser, Die Werkstatt der Embriachi in Venedig, in Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, 20 (1899), no. 86, p. 253.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 342; II, no. 962.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003), no. 253.

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