Gothic Ivories Project | Casket, with ogee arches (coffret) (Body, front)

Steel (modern hinges);green velvet (modern lining inside the box);silver (lock and handle);ivory;wood (alla certosina marquetry on the bottom)

Lid
Joachim and Anna bring lambs to be sacrificed, but the High Priest rejects their offerings because they are childless. Annunciation of the birth of the Virgin to Joachim by an angel. Joachim in the wilderness with his shepherds; trees. Annunciation of the birth of the Virgin to Anna by an angel. Meeting at the Golden Gate (Meeting of Joachim and Anna). Birth of the Virgin; midwife bathing the Virgin. Virgin entering the Temple. Presentation of the Virgin in the temple; hanging lamp.
Body, front
Virgin praying in the Temple; hanging lamp. Virgin weaving. Virgin fed by an angel. Betrothal of Joseph and the Virgin.
End, right
The Virgin enters her house. Annunciation; vase of lilies; dove of the Holy Spirit.
Body, back
Annunciation to the Shepherds. Flight into Egypt; tree. 2 panels with linenfold pattern and scroll.
End, left
Adoring Magi (part of an Adoration of the Magi scene). Nativity with the Virgin holding Christ; Virgin in bed.
Crosshatched background; foliated borders; flowers; brickwork or tiled roof in the spandrels.
Bottom with chequered pattern.

Koechlin 1924: France, end of the 15th century.
Longhurst 1929: France, end of the 15th century.
Randall 1993: Flanders, 2nd half of the 15th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: South Netherlandish, c. 1430-60.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of polychromy and gilding: gold, green, brown.

Reverse
Carved on all sides.

Object Condition
The order of the scenes seems to have been altered. The linencloth panels at the back of the casket seem to be replacements.
Vertical break down the Virgin in the Temple scene.

Provenance
Possibly collection of Count James-Alexandre de Pourtalès (b. 1776, d. 1855), Switzerland: Pourtalès-Gorgier sale, Paris, 6 February 1865, lot 1516. Collection of George H. Morland: sold to the museum, Christie's, London, 9 May 1866, lot 201.

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. 16
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 71.
A. Maskell, Ivories (Connoisseurs Library), (London, 1905), pl. XXIX.
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), p. 112.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 342; II, no. 952.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), pp. 41-42, pl. XXXVIII-XXXIX.
A. Merati, Il Tesoro del Duomo di Monza (Monza, 1963), fig. 61.
R. H. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 1985), p. 238.
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Ivory Carvings in North American Collections (New York, 1993), pp. 52-53.
Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. by Peter Barnet, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, pp. 268-269.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 175.

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