Register 1: saint Roch with pilgrim's staff and hat uncovers his leg to show a sore to a kneeling angel; dog; city; trees.
Register 2: martyrdom of saint Sebastian; archers with bows and arrows. Coat of arms with two crossed swords and a hammer.
Engraved inscription at the bottom: 'IEHAN NICOLLE'.
Twisted columns. Border with roped pattern.
Dalton 1909: French, about 1500.
Koechlin 1924: French, late 15th century or early 16th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: French, c. 1500.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Smooth and concave. The handle which was originally set into a chamfered slot in the back has been lost.
Object Condition
Hole and crack above saint Roch's head. Discolouration; dark brown in colour.
Provenance
Collection of William Maskell (b. 1814, d. 1890): bought from him by the British Museum in 1856.
Bibliography
N. Layard, 'Notes on Some English Paxes including an example urgently found in Ipswich', in Archaeological Journal 62 (June 1904), pp.119-130 (p. 128).
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 325, Pl. LXXII.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 13, 335-336; II, no. 940; III, pl. CLXIII.
J. Warren, Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 3 vols (Oxford, 2014), Vol. 2: Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood, pp. 603-4, in relation to no. 183.
All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.
