Register 1: Agony in the Garden (Christ at Gethsemane); apostles asleep. Betrayal (Taking of Christ; Kiss of Judas); Christ restores Malchus' ear, cut by saint Peter. Christ before Pilate. Buffeting of Christ; Christ blindfolded.
Register 2: Annunciation; vase of lilies; dove of the Holy Spirit. Nativity; swaddled Christ. Adoration of the Magi; Christ standing on the Virgin's lap. Presentation in the Temple; maid holding a candlestick and a basket of doves brought as offerings; hanging lamp.
Border of dentils. Tracery.
Dalton 1909: North French or Flemish, 14th-15th century.
Koechlin 1924: French, mid 15th century.
Egbert 1929: Italy, early 15th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: Northern French or Flemish, 14th or 15th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Flat. Crosshatching. Two holes in the central divider filled in. Modern ink inscriptions: 'W. M' (for William Maskell) and '120'.
Object Condition
Restored: top left may have been re-attached.
Traces of missing fittings along the edges.
Provenance
William Maskell collection (b. 1814, d. 1890)(no. 120): bought by the British Museum in 1856.
Bibliography
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum, (London, 1909), no. 314, pl. LXX.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 324; II, no. 866.
D. D. Egbert, 'North Italian Gothic Ivories in the Museo Cristiano of the Vatican Library', in Art Studies 7 (1929), pp. 168-207 [p. 201, fig. 60].
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