Seated king holding a sword; throne.
Koechlin 1924: France, late 13th century or early 14th century.
Longhurst 1929: Germany, end of the 13th century or beginning of the 14th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: Germany (probably Cologne), c.1300-20. Radiocarbon dating (2011): 95.4% probability that the walrus died between 1077 and 1255.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy: blue (center of lozenges on rear of throne and on straps of sheath).
Reverse
Carved in the round.
Object Condition
Minor chips to terminals of three of the corner posts of the throne and to the crown.
Provenance
In the possession of John Webb (b. 1799, d. 1880), London: 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. 155
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. 6.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 81.
Country Life (16 February 1907), p. 229.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 469; II, no. 1255; III, pl. CCXI.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 56, pl. LI.
D. M. Liddell, Chessmen (New York, 1937), p.143.
J. Dörig, 'Ritratti dell'Imperatore Frederico II', Rivista d'Arte, no. 30 (1955), pp.65-91.
O. Beigbeder, Ivory (London, 1965), fig. 82.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 246.
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