Inv. 14581
God the Father; dove of the Holy Spirit; blessing gesture; orb; foliated decoration.
Koechlin 1924: France, late 15th or early 16th century.
Museum's opinion 2014 (following Marjorie Trusted's unpublished opinion): Goan, 17th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Flat and smooth. Vertical edges chamfered.
19th-century document recording the discovery of the piece.
Comments
Koechlin identified this piece as a fragment of a pax, but the iconography, the absence of the trace of a handle, and the fact that the carving is on the convex side argue against this hypothesis. Dr. T. Richter, in 1998, suggested it could be the pendant of a locket [unpublished].
Koechlin mentioned in 1924 a copper mount in the lower part of the piece and thought that the composition was not complete and would have originally featured Christ on the cross in the lower section.
Provenance
Discovered in 1880 in the cemetery of the Dominicans in Bern. Acquired by the museum in 1922.
Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 333; II, no. 918.
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