Gothic Ivories Project | Mirror case (valve de miroir) (Front)

Gawain on the perilous bed; bed on wheels and with bells; lion; spears falling from the sky; ladies watching the scene from a balcony (maidens from Chateau Merveil); ladies holding chaplets; lady holding a dog; lady holding a flower.
Corner terminals: mermaid, musician mermaid playing the rebec; crouching monster.

Koechlin 1924: France, 1st half of the 14th century.
Bologna 1959: late 14th century.
Vitali 1976: France, 1st half of the 14th century.
Martini and Rizzardi 1990: Paris, 2nd quarter of the 14th century.
Marciano c. 1992-1994: Paris, c. 1320-1330.

Attribution
Unknown

Object Condition
Missing: lower left corner terminal. Upper left corner terminal partly broken.
Central hole in the upper part of the piece.

Comments
Pincelli says this piece is made of bone.

Provenance
Collezioni Universitarie (no. 345): acquired by the Museo Civico in 1881.

Bibliography
P. Ducati, Guida del Museo civico di Bologna (Bologna, 1923), p. 185.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 393, 439, 491; II, no. 1061; pl. CLXXXII.
Lavori in osso e avorio dalla Preistoria al Rococò, dir. by R. Pincelli, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Museo Civico, 20 September-11 October 1959, no. 110, pl. 21.
L. Vitali, Avori gotici francesi (Milan, 1976), no. 7.
Introduzione al Museo Civico Medievale. Palazzo Ghisilardi-Fava (Bologna, 1987), no. 22, p. 52 (C. Bernardini).
Avori bizantini e medievali nel Museo Nazionale di Ravenna, ed. by L. Martini and C. Rizzardi (Ravenna, 1990), p. 52, fig. 26.
A. Marciano, Avori gotici - entry no. 7 (Museo Civico Medievale), Catalogo dei Musei Civici d'Arte Antica di Bologna (unpublished, [c. 1992-1994]).
E. L'Estrange, 'Gazing at Gawain: Reconsidering Tournaments, Courtly Love, and the Lady Who Looks', in Medieval Feminist Forum 44, no. 2 (2008), pp. 74-96 (pp. 85, 96, fig. 8). Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/mff/vol44/iss2/11 (accessed 10-10-2012).
L. Lam, 'Les valves de miroir gothiques: sources littéraires et iconographie', in Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 74 (2011), pp. 297-310 (esp. pp. 300-301, fig. 1).

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