Register 1: saint John the Baptist; standing Virgin and Child; saint John the Evangelist holding a martyr's palm and a book.
Register 2: saint Catherine of Alexandria with wheel and martyr's palm; saint Laurence holding a gridiron; Standing veiled female saint holding a pyxis or censer (possibly saint Clare).
Dalton 1909: French, 14th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: French, late 14th century
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Reverse divided into 5 compartments, one being circular. This indicates that this panel originally was part of a set of writing tablets or the lid of a weights and scale box. Raised border.Ink inscription: 'Diptico antico'.
Object Condition
Worn.
Modern hole beside saint John the Evangelist.
Comments
Panel is curved at the front; its cross section is therefore a semicircle.
Provenance
Collection of William Maskell (b. 1814, d. 1890); collection of G. R. Harding; bought from him through Sotheby's by the British Museum in 1890.
Bibliography
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 358.
All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.
