Griggs 1904-1907: France, 14th century.
Longhurst 1929: French, 14th century (?), 'of rather doubtful authenticity'.
Gaborit-Chopin 2003: French, 19th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: France (Paris), c. 1300.
Radiocarbon dating 2014: 95.4% probability that the elephant died between 1227-1294.
Attribution
Unknown
Hinges
Two hinges (probably later).
Reverse
Flat and smooth.
Back of the right wing:
Blue and white label with inscription: '2me inv. 1614'. Remains of red wax.
Back of the left wing:
Traces of an ink inscription 'G O' (?).
Object Condition
Vertical crack across the right wing.
Holes for missing clasps on the outer edge of each leaf.
Provenance
Unknown French collection (collection label in French on the back of the right leaf). Collection of Prince Petr Soltykoff (b. c. 1801, d. 1889): sold, Paris, Drouot, 8 April 1861, lot 244; purchased by John Webb (b. 1799, d. 1880), London: purchased from him by the Museum in 1866.
Bibliography
Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediaeval, Renaissance, and more recent periods on loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862, revised edition, exhibition catalogue, London, 1863, no. 77.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 67.
W. Griggs, Portfolio of Ivories [London, 1904-1907], pl. XXXIII.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 283, note 2.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), pp. 26-27, pl. XXII.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003), p. 347, n. 3.
C. T. Little , ‘The Art of Gothic Ivories: Studies at the Crossroads,’ in The Sculpture Journal 23.1 (2014), pp. 13-29, fig. 8.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 73.
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