A & A spacer courtauld institute of art
login
quick search advanced search browse temp folder

Back panel (fragment of a casket; coffret) (Front)

Back panel (fragment of a casket; coffret) (Front)
enlarge image zoom image

Subject
Secular. Hunting scene. Courtly love.


Unknown location

S/n

Ivory

Hawking party; courting couples (meeting of lovers); couples hawking on horseback; ladies and youth with a hawk on their wrist; hunter on horseback blowing a horn; birds in the trees; lady holding a lure for hawks; dogs; couples standing outside a castle; youth and ladies including a queen watching from the castle battlements.

Randall 1997: French, 1320-1340. He argues that this panel and the sword bridge side of the casket were carved earlier than the front panel, which he dates to 1340-1360.


Attribution
Unknown

Object Condition
Missing: silver mounts. Recessed borders for mounts.

Comments
The front, back and (Bern) side panels were kept together until the 19th century when they were assembled into a box with an added 19th-century ivory lid with a jousting scene and added side. It was sold in 1977 to a Texas collector who took it apart and sold the genuine parts. The front is now in the Princeton University Art Museum (1996-153), the back and side with the sword bridge scene are in private collections. The missing side, which must have been separated from the others at an early stage was acquired in 2009 by the Princeton University Art Museum (2009-23).

Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 15 December 1977, lot 27 (sold together with the front and sword bridge side, included in a recomposed casket): private collection, Texas (the casket was taken apart at this time). Sotheby's, London, 14 June 1996, lot 62. Acquired by Jan Dirven, art dealer (Netherlands).

Bibliography
R. H. Randall Jr., 'Games on a Medieval Ivory', in Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, 56 (1997), pp. 3-9, fig. 2.


Image

Conway Library © Courtauld Institute of Art.

All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.

spacer
spacer spacer spacer spacer
Please remember to acknowledge any use of the site in publications and lectures as: 'Gothic Ivories Project at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, www.gothicivories.courtauld.ac.uk', followed by the date you accessed the site.