Baptism of Christ by saint John the Baptist. Coat of arms with four crosses and two ears of wheat.
Crosshatched background. Foliated decoration. Brickwork or tiled roof.
Meyrick 1836: 'the commencement of the reign of Henry the Eighth' (c. 1509).
Dalton 1909: French, early 16th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: French, early 16th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
The handle which was originally set into a chamfered slot in the back has been lost. Red label with printed inscription: 'Exhibition of art treasures. 1857. Goodrich court.'
Object Condition
Restoration along the upper rim.
Provenance
Said to have been from the Convent of Alembrosia, taken from a now lost label, see Meyrick (1836) and Dalton (1909). Excavated in France. Collection of Francis Douce (b. 1757, d. 1834); collection of Dr Samuel Rush Meyrick (b. 1783, d. 1848), by bequest, 1834; collection of Major-General Augustus Meyrick, by bequest, 1848, (no. 1321)(exhibited at the Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester, 1857); donated to the British Museum in 1878.
Bibliography
S. R. Meyrick, 'The Doucean Museum', in Gentlemen's Magazine (April 1836), no. 48.
N. Layard, 'Notes on Some English Paxes including an example urgently found in Ipswich', in Archaeological Journal 62 (June 1904), pp.119-130 (p. 128).
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 326.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 333; II, no. 914.
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