Gothic Ivories Project | Prayer bead in the shape of a scallop shell (Closed)

Height: 112mm
Width: 137mm (open); 70mm (closed)
Depth: 57mm (closed); 28-33mm (ivory only)

Left
Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist; saint Mary Magdalene embracing the foot of the cross.
Right
Resurrection with two soldiers asleep and two soldiers awake; trees.

Hartford 1948: German school, early 16th century (seen as a reliquary).
Museum's opinion 2012: Germany or Spain, c. 1500-1525.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive polychromy and gilding: red (garments), gold (background, armour, banner; decorative pattern on Christ's cloak; etc), blue (sky), green (background), black (armour).

Reverse
Back carved like a scallop shell.

Provenance
Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan (d. 1913), London and New York; estate of J. Pierpont Morgan (1913-1917); gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.

Bibliography
The Pierpont Morgan wing: a handbook by Joseph Breck and Meyric Rogers (New York, 1929), 2nd ed., p. 127.
The Life of Christ, exhibition catalogue, Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, 1948, no. 206.

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