Gothic Ivories Project | Openwork medallion (médaillon ajouré) (Front)

Annunciation; vase of lilies; God the Father with dove of the Holy Spirit (lost); sun; tree.
Flamboyant tracery.

Molinier 1986: Spain, late 15th century.
Koechlin 1924: France, late 15th century.
Gaborit-Chopin 2003: France (Paris?), 1st third of the 15th century. 19th-century mount.
Paris 2004: France, 1st third of the 15th century. 19th-century mount.
Museum's opinion 2010: France (Paris?), 1st third of the 15th century. 19th-century mount.
Rotterdam 2012: Southern Netherlands, c. 1425-1450.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of gilding and polychromy (red, green, blue. See report by Guineau, 1995, and report by A. Cascio and J. Levy, 1996).

Reverse
Inscription and label: 'Davillier 59'.
Scratches for glue.
Traces of floral decoration still visible on the back, suggesting it was originally meant to be seen in the round, before being attached to a ground (see restoration report by A. Cascio and J. Levy, 1996).

Object Condition
Very thin openwork ivory, broken in several places (but no part of the ivory has been restored).
Ivory warped. Grey stains (flies?).
Board background covered with raw silk, lifted during restoration, then pink silk.
19th century silver mount.
Missing: dove of the Holy Spirit.

Provenance
Collection of Baron Jean-Charles Davillier (no. 59); bequest of J.-C. Davillier, 1883.

Bibliography
A. Darcel, 'Le Moyen-Age et la Renaissance au Trocadéro', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, (1878), p. 290.
L. Courajod, E. Molinier, Donation du baron Charles Davillier. Catalogue des objets exposés au musée du Louvre (Paris, 1885), no. 59.
E. Molinier, Musée National du Louvre. Catalogue des ivoires (Paris, 1896), no. 127.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 345; II, no. 967.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003), no. 236.
Paris 1400. Les Arts sous Charles VI, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2004, no. 126.
S. Kemperdick, F. Lammertse, The Road to Van Eyck, exhibition catalogue, Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, 2012, p. 219, fig. 1, in relation to no. 49.
J. Warren, Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 3 vols (Oxford, 2014), Vol. 2: Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood, p. 599, in relation to no. 181.

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