Gothic Ivories Project | Double-sided openwork pendant, 2 registers (plaquette ajourée) (Side 1)

Side 1
Register 1: seated Virgin and Child. Seated saint John the Evangelist with the poisoned cup and martyr's palm.
Register 2: seated saint John the Baptist holding the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei); seated saint Catherine of Alexandria with wheel, sword and and martyr's palm; crown.
Side 2
Register 1: saint Christopher carrying Christ across the river. Seated saint James the Greater with pilgrim's hat.
Register 2: unidentified seated male saint (possibly saint Anthony). Seated saint Anne (?).
Openwork foliated background; flowers.

Longhurst 1929: French or Flemish (?), 15th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: France (Paris), c. 1400-1410.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive gilding and polychromy: gold (haloes, frames, thrones, clothes, foredge of books, hair), green (trees, foliated decoration), blue (clothes, flowers), red (cheeks; cross on banner), black (hat, eyes, script in books, etc), yellow (hair), silver? (patterns on clothes).

Reverse
Carved panel on both sides of the pendant.

Object Condition
Azurite has been rubbed in places and some of the tendrils in the pierced background have broken away.

Provenance
Collecton of Eduard Jakob Wedekin (b.1769, d.1870), the Bishop of Hildesheim until 1870; bought at Hildesheim in 1873 from Joseph Godehard Muller through Friedrich Küsthardt.

Bibliography
List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington, Acquired During the Year 1873, Arranged According to the Dates of Acquisition [London, c. 1874], p. 2
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 39, pl. XXXIV.
J. Rasmussen, 'Untersuchungen zum Halleschen Heiltum des Kardinals Albrecht von Brandenburg', in Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 28 (1977), pp. 91-132 (p. 130, n. 409).
J. Rasmussen, 'Untersuchungen zum Halleschen Heiltum des Kardinals Albrecht von Brandenburg', in Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 28 (1977), p. 130, note 409 (no. 15).
R. Didier, Die Parler und der Schöne Stil 1350-1400. Europäische Kunst unter den Luxemburgern, exhibition catalogue, (Cologne, Schnütgen-Museum in der Kunsthalle), 1978, I, p. 65.
P. Williamson, Medieval Sculpture and Works of Art. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (London, 1987), p. 136, fig 1.
P. Williamson, Schatzkammer auf Zeit: Die Sammlungen des Bischofs Eduard Jakob Wedekin 1796-1870. Hildesheim : Das Museum, exhibition catalogue, Hildesheim, Diözesanmuseum, 28 June 1991-23 November 1992, no. 6 (not exhibited).
Schatzkammer auf Zeit: Die Sammlungen des Bischofs Eduard Jakob Wedekin 1796-1870. Hildesheim : Das Museum, exhibition catalogue, Hildesheim, Diözesanmuseum, 28 June 1991-23 November 1992, no. 6.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003), p. 512, fig. 238a.
Paris 1400. Les Arts sous Charles VI, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2004, no. 73.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 159.

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