Staghorn;wood;leather;wax;birch bark.
Woman speaking; scroll with inscription: 'ich pin bie/ich wans nit wie', 'ich var von v[..]/ich wans nit wan', 'nu wol auf mit willen unvergessen' (left side).
Man speaking; scroll with inscription 'ich frei mich all/zeit dein' (left side); 'ich var ich bar/ne lenger ich bar', 'me greffer nar', dein ewichleich', 'land ierigen varn' (right side).
Woman: 'me den krg (?) ent' (right side).
Man: 'ich var ich bar ye lenger ich bar/me greffer nar/dein ewichleich/land ierigen varn' (right side).
Woman: 'me den krg (?) ent' (right side).
Translation: 'I am here, I know not how
I go from [...], I know not where
Well a day! Willingly forgotten are you never
I rejoice to be always thine
I go, I stay
The longer I stay
The madder I become
Yours for all time
Yours through the whole world
But if the war should end?'
Foliated decoration.
Museum's opinion 2009: Germany, c. 1440-1460.
Attribution
Unknown
Provenance
Collection of Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick (b. 1783, d. 1848), Goodrich Court, Herefordshire; Frédéric Spitzer collection, Paris; bought by Sir Richard Wallace in 1871.
Bibliography
J. von Schlosser, 'Elfenbeinsättel des ausgehenden Mittelalters', in Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, 15 (1894), pp. 260-294, no. 2. Fully accessible online as part of the Heidelberger historische Bestände:
J. Mann, Wallace Collection Catalogues. European Arms and Armour, II, Arms (London, 1962), pp. 226-227, pl. 95.
M. Verő, 'Bemerkungen zu den beinsätteln aus der Sigismundzeit', in Sigismundus rex et imperator: Kunst und Kultur zur Zeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg 1387-1437, exhibition catalogue, Budapest and Luxemburg, 2006, pp. 270-278 (p. 277, no. 14).
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/jbksak1894/0318 [accessed 24/07/2013].
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