Annunciation.
Wing, left
Kneeling angel holding a lily; God the Father making a blessing gesture.
Wing, right
Virgin in prayer; dove of the Holy Spirit; lectern with open book.
Longhurst 1929: Italian, 2nd half of the 15th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: Italy (Venice or Florence), middle of 19th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Hinges
Heavy integral hinge mechanism, and closed on the outer edge with a long pin.
Reverse
Reverse decorated with raised border, pilasters, candelabra and grotesque ornament.
Comments
Inscription on interior reads (on left leaf) 'ave maria plena dominus / tecum benedicta / tu in mulieribus et benedit'; (on right leaf) 'a tu in mulieribus et benedic[tus] / fructus ventris / tuis ne timeas maria inve'.
Provenance
Purchased by Museum in 1857 from Eugene Piot, Paris, who is said to have obtained it in Venice.
Bibliography
List of Works of Art acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum during the Year 1867. Arranged according to the Dates of Acquisition (London, 1857), p. 11.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 14.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 101, pl. LXXXI.
Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance 1400-1600 (Detroit, Institute of Arts, 1958), cat. no. 398.
A Casa di Andrea Mantegna. Cultura Artistica a Mantova nel Quattrocento (Casa del Mantegna, 2006), p. 500.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 117.
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