Seated Virgin and Child (Sedes Sapientiae); Christ in long robe; Christ seated frontally; Christ seated on the Virgin's left knee; Virgin holding a fruit in her right hand; Christ holding a fruit in left hand; Virgin trampling a monster under her left foot; dragon; blessing gesture; bench.
Koechlin 1924: France, 1st quarter of 13th century.
Longhurst 1929: France (?), 1st half of the 13th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: France (Paris or Reims), c. 1220-30.
Radiocarbon dating: 95.4% probability that the elephant died between 1184-1275.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Carved in the round.
Object Condition
Knees of figures are worn.
Front of base is of roughened appearance and has been lightly stained green (copper mount?).
Missing: one of the Virgin's fingers on her right hand; tip of Christ's right thumb; two crowns (presumably of metal)
Comments
Underside: circular cavity (relic repository?), with an edge to hold a circle of ivory or other material in place to close the cavity.
Provenance
In the possession of John Webb (b. 1799, d. 1880), London, by 1862; purchased from him by the Museum in 1867.
Bibliography
Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediaeval, Renaissance, and more recent periods on loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862..., revised edition, exhibition catalogue (London, 1863), no. 99.
Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged according to the dates of their acquisition (London, 1868), I, p. 12.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), no. 206-67.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 48; II, no. 3.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 29, pl. XXVI.
K.G. Beuckers (ed.), Mittelalterliche Elfenbeinarbeiten aus der Sammlung des Badischen Landesmuseums Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, 1999), p. 52, fig. 34.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 1.
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