Nativity; seated Virgin and Child; cruciform halo; bed; cushion; ox and ass.
Westwood 1876: Germany, end of the 15th century.
Dalton 1909: Northern French, early 15th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: Northern French or Flemish, early 15th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Flat and smooth. Modern ink inscription, 'W. M' (for William Maskell) and '39'.
Object Condition
Deep crack through the face of the Virgin.
Missing: left arm of and right hand of Christ.
Provenance
Collection of William Maskell (b. 1814, d. 1890) (collection no. 39); British Museum, by purchase, 1856.
Bibliography
M. D. Wyatt, Notices of sculpture in ivory: consisting of a lecture on the history, methods, and chief productions of the art, delivered at the first annual general meeting of the Arundel society, on the 29th June, 1855 (London, 1858), no. XIV.d, p. 17.
J. O. Westwood, Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), no. 741 ('58.45).
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 343, pl. LXXVIII.
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