Baptism of Christ; saint John the Baptist; angel holding the tunic of Christ; dove of the Holy Spirit.
Outside the volute: God the Father; prophets holding scrolls. Monster swallowing the base of the volute (dragon head).
Hexagonal shaft: six apostles and saints standing under arches, including saint Paul, saint Peter, saint Andrew, saint John the Evangelist; unidentified saint holding a sword and shield; unidentified bearded saint holding a book.
Foliated decoration.
Randall 1993: Tuscan, 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Inscriptions on the scrolls held by the prophets: 'Isaac', 'Isaiah', 'Solomon', 'Ezekiel' (?), 'Zephaniah' (?). Three scrolls are blank.
Reverse
Carved on both sides.
Provenance
From the Abbey of San Giusto alle Balze: city of Volterra, (until 1880; Description des ivoires de la ville de Volterra, sale catalogue by J. Sambon, 2 December 1880, lot 3). Collection of Stefano Bardini (b. 1836, d. 1922), Florence: sale, Christie's, Florence, 5 June 1899, lot 299, pl. LVIII. Collection of Lord Astor, Hever Castle, Kent: sale, Sotheby's, London, 6 May 1983, lot 233. Private collection, New York (in 1993).
Bibliography
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Ivory Carvings in North American Collections (New York, 1993), no. 205 (private collection, New York).
Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. by Peter Barnet, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, p. 216 (in relation to no. 50).
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 152.
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