Side 1: Standing Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse); two standing angels holding candlesticks.
Side 2: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist; cruciform halo; sun and moon. Angel in prayer supporting the volute.
Foliated decoration: vine leaf. Dragon head.
Vöge 1900: German, 14th century.
Volbach 1923: France, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Koechlin 1924: France or Germany (?), 2nd half of the 14th century.
Koekkoek 1987: c. 1400.
Museum's opinion 2011: Germany (Mainz?), end of the 14th century.
Attribution
Kremsmünster Master
Polychromy - Gilding
Silver gilt roses are attached to the foliated corner terminals of the volute.
Reverse
Carved on both sides.
Comments
Made of two pieces of ivory.
Provenance
Abbey of Liesborn; Kunstkammer (later Staatliche Museen), Berlin (Inv. 668); de-accessioned in 1935 together with a number of other works of art for the Berlin Museums to acquire the Guelf Treasure (Welfenschatz) from a consortium of dealers (a portion of the agreed price was paid in cash, another portion in works of art from the Berlin collections); dealer S. Rosenberg, Amsterdam; collection of Dr. F. Mannheimer, Amsterdam; on loan to the Rijksmuseum from the Dienst voor's Rijks Verspreide Kunstvoorwerpen, The Hague in 1952; assigned to the Museum in 1960.
Bibliography
F. T. Kugler, Beschreibung Der In Der Königlichen Kunstkammer Zu Berlin Vorhandenen Kunst-Sammlung (Berlin, 1838), p. 38.
W. Vöge, Die Königlichen Museen zu Berlin. Beschreibung der Bildwerke der christlichen Epochen. Zweite Auflage. Elfenbeinwerke (Berlin, 1900), no. 135, pl. XXXV.
O. Pelka, Elfenbein (Berlin, 1920), p. 210, no. 130.
W. F. Volbach, Die Bildwerke des Deutschen Museums, Die Elfenbeinbildwerke (Berlin, 1923), no. J668 pp. 41-42, fig. 51.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 276, II, no. 774ter, III, pl. CXXIX.
J. Leeuwenberg, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum ('s Gravenhage, 1973), no. 770.
R. Koekkoek, Gotische ivoren in het Catharijneconvent (Utrecht, 1987), pp. 37-38, no. 47, figs. 22a-b.
Gotische ivoren: Rijksmuseum het Catharijneconvent Utrecht, Catalogue, Utrecht, 1987, no. 47. tbc
Een hogere werkelijkheid, Duitse en Franse beeldhouwkunst 1200-1600 uit het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, ed. by F. Scholten and G. de Werd, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Museum Kurhaus Kleef, 2004, pp. 142-143, no. 54.
K. Koselleck, 'Een uralter elfenbeinerner Krummstab ohne einen besonderen Wert', in Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 56 (2008), pp. 408-423.
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