Bathsheba receives a letter from David; David, from a window of his palace, sees Bathsheba bathing; fountain; brickwork; architecture; trees.
Crosshatched background; vine border with grapes.
Westwood 1876: Germany, 16th century.
Longhurst 1929: Germany, early 16th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: probably French or Netherlandish, c. 1520-30.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Back turned with a depression for (missing) mirror. Remains of 19th-century blue paper.
Inscription on the top rim: '2203'.
Object Condition
The ivory is made of two separate pieces (border and central panel).
The outer ring has cracked in two places: at the left and bottom.
Later hole in the upper part of the roundel (visible from the back and exiting at the top).
Comments
Dalton (1909) and Longhurst (1929) note doubts as to the authenticity of this ivory, however they concur that it is in fact early 16th century.
Provenance
Collection of Ralph Bernal, 93 Eaton Square, London (b. 1783, d. 1854): his sale, Christie & Manson, London, 21 March 1855, lot 1631; bought by the Museum at this sale.
Bibliography
Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged according to the dates of their acquisition (London, 1868), I, p. 67.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 6.
J. O. Westwood, Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), no. 874 ('73.328).
Dr. Kuhn, Katalog für die Ausstellung der Werke älterer Meister (Munich, [1876]), Part 2, Katalog der Kunst und Kunstindustrie-Ausstellung alter und neuer deutscher Meister, no. 563.
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), p. 158.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 414.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 86.
L. Mallé, Smalti-Avori. Museo d'Arte Antica (Turin, 1969), p. 320.
An Exhibition of Medieval, Renaissance and Islamic Works of Art, exhibition catalogue, New York, Newhouse Galleries (Trinity Fine Art Catalogue no. 13, Florence), 1995, p. 58.
Ivoires du Musée du Louvre 1480-1850: une collection inédite, exhibition catalogue, Dieppe, Château-Musée de Dieppe, 2005, p. 48 (P. Malgouyres).
P. Malgouyres, Ivoires de la Renaissance et des Temps Modernes. La Collection du Musée du Louvre (Paris, 2010), p. 183.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 208.
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