Gothic Ivories Project | Writing tablet, 1 register, 1 full and 2 half arches across (tablette à écrire; plaquette; frise d'arcatures); probably reused as a diptych (Front)

Saint John the Evangelist holding a martyr's palm and a book; standing Virgin and Child; saint James the Greater with pilgrim's hat, staff and satchel.
Pointed trefoils; crosshatched background.

Graf 1896: late 14th century.
Koechlin 1924: France, late 14th century.
Berliner 1926: France, late 14th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Traces of two hinges on the right side (later).

Reverse
Recessed to receive the wax, with a raised border.

Object Condition
Holes along the right side, some corresponding to hinges.

Comments
Saint John the Evangelist is mistakenly identified as saint Stephen by Berliner.

Provenance
On loan from 1866; bequest of King Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1874.

Bibliography
Das Mittelalter. II, Gotische Alterthümer der Baukunst und Bildnerei, by H. Graf, G. Hager and J. A. Mayer (Munich, 1896), VI, no. 1388, pl. XXVIII.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 330; II, no. 880.
R. Berliner, Die Bildwerke des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums, IV. Die Bildwerke in Elfenbein, Knochen, Hirsch- und Steinbockhorn, mit einem Anhange: Elfenbeinarbeiten der Staatlichen Schlossmuseen in Bayern (Augsburg, 1926), no. 58.

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