Gothic Ivories Project | Casket with openwork panels (coffret; plaques ajourées) (Lid)

Ivory;bone and horn;silk;gilt-copper (fittings);green velvet (lining);wood;ebony;'alla certosina' marquetry

Lid
Tracery; foliated decoration; rosettes.
Body, front
Wild man aiming a bow and arrow; wild man holding a club; tracery.
End, right
Saint Peter holding a key; tracery.
Body, back
Unidentified male saint (possibly saint Philip); saint Barbara holding a tower and martyr's palm.
End, left
Saint Catherine of Alexandria with sword and wheel; crown.
Foliated border with rosettes. Roped border.
Corner pieces: heads of green men. Diapered pattern.

Griggs 1904-1907: France, 15th century.
Longhurst 1929: Italian (?), 15th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: Upper Rhenish or Eastern French (alsace?), about 1420-50.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy: black (eyes).

Reverse
Carved on all sides.

Object Condition
Missing: lock plate and clasp.

Provenance
Said to have been 'found hidden in a recess of a wall, a few years ago, on the final demolition of a ruined chateau in France' (Maskell 1872, p. 34). In the possession of John Webb (b. 1799, d. 1880), London: purchased from him by the Museum in 1862.

Bibliography
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), pp. 33-4.
W. Griggs, Portfolio of Ivories [London, 1904-1907], pt. XXVI.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 69, pl. LXIII.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 172.

All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.