Inv. 64647 (Morey A115)
Four apostles with their attributes; saint Simon holding a fish or saint Bartholomew holding a flaying knife; saint Thomas or saint Jude or saint Matthew with a square; saint Matthias holding an axe; saint Simon or James the Lesser holding a saw.
Crosshatched background.
Koechlin 1924: France, late 15th century.
Egbert 1929: Northern Italy, 1st half of 15th century.
Morey 1936: Northern Italy, 15th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Flat and smooth. Traces of glue.
Object Condition
Chipped on the edges. Missing: lower right corner.
Comments
Koechlin recognised the first Apostle as saint Bartholomew holding a flaying knife, while Morey argued that the first apostle was saint Simon holding a fish. Egbert and Morey argued that the second Apostle was Jude, and not Matthew as Koechlin claimed. They also saw the last Apostle as James the Lesser rather than Simon.
Provenance
Mentioned in the inventory of Clement XIII, pope from 1758 to 1769 (Inv. Clemente XIII, f. 106v).
Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 342; II, no. 965.
D. D. Egbert, 'North Italian Gothic Ivories in the Museo Cristiano of the Vatican Library', in Art Studies 7 (1929), pp. 168-207 [pp. 183 ff.].
C. R. Morey, Gli oggetti di avorio e di osso del Museo Vaticano (Vatican City, 1936), p. 88, no. A115, pl. XXX.
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