Gothic Ivories Project | Box for goldsmith scales and weights, 1 register, 3 arches across (boîte à poids et à balance; frise d'arcatures) (Front (lid))

Lid
Saint John the Baptist holding the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei); Standing Virgin and Child (Vierge Glorieuse); saint Christopher carrying the Christ child.
Bottom
Crucifixion; swooning Virgin supported by the Holy Women; Saint John the Evangelist with onlookers holding scrolls.
Pointed trefoils in the spandrels. Border of dentils.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Traces of two broken hinges on the right side of the lid and left side of the lower part of the box.

Reverse
Inside box, labelled: '275'.
Lid: recessed with raised border.
Bottom: compartments for the weights and scale.

Object Condition
Break with piece missing on lower-right corner of the Virgin ivory.
Chip in lower-left corner of the Crucifixion.
Hinges broken.

Comments
There were sliding covers over the compartments of the box.

Provenance
Collection of Dr. Marchant, curator at the Musée de Dijon (d. 1921); collection of Dr. Alexandre Chompret, Paris (acquired from the widow of Dr. Marchant); gift of Dr. A. Chompret to the Museum in 1942.

Bibliography
Musées nationaux. Nouvelles acquisitions, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1945, no. 254.
R. H. Randall, 'A Group of Gothic Ivory Boxes', in Burlington Magazine, 127, no. 990 (September 1985), fig. 4-7.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, 'Les tablettes à écrire d'ivoire au Moyen Âge', in Métiers d'art 54-55, (December 1994-March 1995), pp. 17-21, fig.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003), no. 221.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 128 and no. 132.

© Réunion des musées nationaux (RMN) - Jean-Gilles Berizzi.
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