Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
No traces of polychromy (see unpublished report by A. Cascio and J. Levy, 1993).

Reverse
Screw thread on reverse to allow it to be locked with pendant.
Small mirror of modern glass.

Object Condition
Ivory cracked.
Hole in upper part.

Comments
Very similar to a mirror case in the V&A (inv. number 803-1891), though our case depicts 4 figures (rare). See Gaborit-Chopin 2003.

Provenance
Alexandre-Charles Sauvageot collection, Paris (no. 273): given by him to the Museum in 1856.

Bibliography
M. D. Wyatt, Notices of sculpture in ivory: consisting of a lecture on the history, methods, and chief productions of the art, delivered at the first annual general meeting of the Arundel society, on the 29th June, 1855 (London, 1858), no. XI.a, pl. opposite p. 14.
Didron, Annales archéologiques 19 (1859), p. 253, fig. p. 254, note 1.
A. Sauzay, Musée impérial du Louvre. Catalogue du musée Sauvageot (Paris, 1861), no. 273.
A. Sauzay, Musée de la Renaissance [Musée du Louvre]. Notice des Ivoires (Paris, 1863), no. 64
E. Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné du mobilier français de l'époque carolingienne à la Renaissance (Paris, 1872-1875), II, p. 467.
J.O. Westwood, Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), no. 858 ('58.40).
L. Gonse, L'Art gothique: l'architecture, la peinture, la sculpture, le décor, (Paris, 1890), p. 353.
E. Molinier, Musée National du Louvre. Catalogue des ivoires (Paris, 1896), no. 55.
Bégule and Bertaux, 'Un vitrail profane', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1906), II, p. 415.
R. Koechlin, Les ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 387-389, II, no. 1053; III, pl. CLXXX.
L. Grodecki, Ivoires français (Paris, 1947), p. 116.
E. von Philippowich, Elfenbein (Brunswick, 1961), p. 71, fig. 56.
La France de Saint-Louis, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Conciergerie, 1970, no. 176.
L. Courajod, 'Exposition rétrospective de Milan en 1874', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, XI, 1875, fig. p. 6.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires du Moyen Âge occidental (Fribourg, 1978), p. 148.
Les Fastes du Gothique: le siècle de Charles V, ed. by F. Baron, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1981, no. 122.
Nouvelles acquisitions du département des Objets d'art (1985-1989), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Musée du Louvre, 1990, no. 36, fig. 25.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, 'Les ivoires gothiques français', in Louvre. Trésors du Moyen Âge. Dossier de l'art, no. 16, Dec. 1993-Jan. 1994, fig. 6.
R. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory. Gothic Carvings in North American Collections, (New York, 1993), no. 184 (cited).
Williamson, Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, no. 55 (cited).
Randall, Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, no. 58 (cited).
R. Donato, 'Les jeux d'échecs du Moyen Âge au XVIIIe siècle', in L'Objet d'art, July-August 1998, fig. 79.
L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1998, no. 98.
Le Stanze di Artù, ed. by E. Castelnuovo, exhibition catalogue, Alessandria, Complesso conventuale di San Francesco, ex Ospedale militare, 1999-2000, fig. p. 132
Miroirs. Jeux et reflets depuis l'Antiquité, Rouen, Musée départemental des antiquités, 2000, p. 122, fig. 24.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003), no. 127.
La Légende du roi Arthur, dir. by T. Delcourt, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2009, no. 80.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 191.