Gnadenstuhl (Throne of Mercy); Trinity; God the Father holding Christ on the cross; dove of the Holy Spirit issuing from the mouth of God the Father.
London 1923: France, 1st half of the 14th century.
London 1987: English (?), c. 1330.
Williamson and Davies 2014: probably French (Paris or Northern France), about 1320-30.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Smooth and slightly concave, except for the back of God's head, which is flat. Crosshatching in the lower part at the back.
Paper label with inscription '14' (porbably an Oppenheimer collection number).
Object Condition
Missing: the background has been cut away, including the right arm of God and Christ's right arm. Lower part missing.
Dark brown staining, possibly caused by fire.
Comments
Porter thought this was a pax, but this relief was probably originally applied on an ivory or wood background.
Provenance
Possibly collection of Emile Peyre (Koechlin reported that he had seen an ivory of the Trinity in the possession of Parisian decorator and dealer Emile Peyre (b. 1828, d. 1904) and thought it was this piece, see Koechlin 1924, vol. I, p. 142, n. 3). Collection of Henry Oppenheimer (at least 1923-1936): his sale, Christie's, London, 16 July 1936, lot 180. Given to the museum by Mr George Durlacher in 1937.
Bibliography
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Carvings in Ivory, exhibition catalogue, London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1923, no. 101, pl. XXIX.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 142, n. 3.
M. Longhurst, English Ivories (London, 1926), no. LV, p. 107.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Review of the Principal Acquisitions during the years 1911-1938, (London, 1937), pp. 3-4, pl. 3b.
D. A. Porter, Ivory Carvings in Later Medieval England 1200-1400 (unpublished PhD thesis, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1974), pp. 105-107, no. 39.
Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400, ed. by J. J. G. Alexander and Paul Binski, exhibition catalogue, London, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 519 (N. Stratford).
J. Warren, Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 3 vols (Oxford, 2014), Vol. 2: Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood, in relation to no. 161.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 36.
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