Crucifixion between the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist; saint Peter holding a key; saint Catherine with broken wheel, crown and martyr's palm; rugged cross.
Crosshatched background. Pointed trefoils in the spandrels.
Dalton 1909: Northern French or Flemish, 15th century.
Koechlin 1924: Northern French or Flemish, 2nd half of 15th century.
Randall 1994: Dutch (Utrecht), 1440-1470.
Museum's opinion 2011: Flemish, mid 15th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Some dark brown colouration.
Reverse
Flat and smooth. The handle which was originally set into a chamfered slot in the back has been lost. Handwritten inscriptions: 'W.M.' and 'W.M.ε' (for William Maskell) and '81'.
Object Condition
Two central holes in the upper part and lower part of the panel.
Some ivory has been lost to the left side of Christ, caused by the chamfered slot in the back of the piece.
Comments
Parallel grooves round the border. Koechlin (1924) notes that this pax is similar to a 15th century pax in the Victoria and Albert Museum (150-1879).
Provenance
Collection of William Maskell (b. 1814, d. 1890); British Museum, by purchase, 1856.
Bibliography
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 318, pl. LXXII.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 333; II, no. 891.
R. H. Randall, 'Dutch Ivories of the Fifteenth Century', in Beelden in de late Middeleeuwen en Renaissance, ed. by R. Falkenburg et al., Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek (Zwolle, 1994), pp. 126-139 (pp. 130-131, fig. 4).
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 140 and 173.
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