Couple playing chess; courting couple; man with his left hand around the pole supporting the tent; lady holding a chess piece in her left hand.
Corner terminals: four crouching monsters.
Williamson 2002 and Museum's opinion 2009: Paris, c. 1320-1340.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy: red (table; monsters; bench), green (monsters; curtains); gold (curtains).
Reverse
Back turned with a depression for (missing) mirror.
White label with printed no. '82'; white label with handwritten number '338'; blue and white label with inscription: 'Collection Wernher no. 106'.
Comments
Lady wearing a chaplet pierced with small holes, where gems must have been originally inserted. Eyes also pierced. A hinge was added at an early period to the right side: a pin and hole survive from this arrangement on the right and a small knob on the left.
Provenance
Collection of Sir Julius Wernher (d. 1912), Bath House, London; on loan to English Heritage and displayed at Ranger's House since 2002.
Bibliography
P. Williamson, 'Medieval Ivory Carvings in the Wernher Collection', in Apollo (May 2002), pp. 17-22 (p. 20, fig. 9).
J. Warren, Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 3 vols (Oxford, 2014), Vol. 2: Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood, p. 568, in relation to no. 164.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 196.
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