Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two hinges (later).

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of polychromy in the hair, along the hems of clothes, pattern on the background. Painted medallions enclosing trefoils in the spandrels. The reverse sides are recessed, filled with gesso and painted with two scenes on gilt ground. On the left: Ascension with saint Francis of Assisi and saint Clare among the witnesses. On the right: Byzantine-type Nativity before a cave; Bathing of Christ Child.

Reverse
The reverse sides are recessed, filled with gesso and painted with two scenes on gilt ground. On the left: Ascension with saint Francis of Assisi and saint Clare among the witnesses. On the right: Byzantine-type Nativity before a cave; Bathing of Christ Child.

Object Condition
Corner and two small breaks in the lower edge were filled with gesso.

Comments
Paintings apparently original; 'The paintings indicate the area of Assisi and a strong connection with the Franciscan order' (Randall 1985).

Provenance
Bought by Henry Walters from Ongania in Venice before 1931; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Bibliography
C. R. Morey, 'Italian Gothic Ivories', in Medieval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter (Cambridge, Mss., 1939), I, p. 203, no. 38.
R. H. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 1985), no. 343.