Gothic Ivories Project | Mirror case (valve de miroir); frame of 8 lobes (Front)

Courting couples (meeting of lovers); offering of the heart (gift of the heart); youth chucking his lover under the chin; tree.
Four foliated corner terminals. Masks in the spandrels.

Koechlin 1924, Mallé 1969, Turin 1996: France, mid 14th century.
Museum's opinion 2010: France (Paris?), mid 14th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Back turned with a depression for (missing) mirror.

Object Condition
Corner terminals partly broken.

Comments
Known between ca. 1950 and 1987 as Inv. 34. Later inscription in red '808' (original Museum number used until ca. 1950).

Provenance
Probably from the dukes of Savoy collections; Museo Egizio/Museo di Antichità, Turin (from at least 1832): given as part of an exchange of pieces with the Museo Civico in 1871.

Bibliography
Museo Civico di Torino. Sezione Arte Antica. Cento tavole riproducenti circa 700 oggetti (Turin, 1905), pl. c.x., 94c.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 379; II, no. 1005; III, pl. CLXXVII.
L. Mallé, Smalti-Avori. Museo d'Arte Antica (Turin, 1969), pp. 296-297, pl. 135 (as Inv. 34).
Giacomo Jaquerio e il Gotico Internazionale in Piemonte, ed. by E. Castelnuovo, G. Romano, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Palazzo Madama, 1979, pp. 287-288, pl. 56.
Il tesoro della città. Opere d'arte e oggetti preziosi da Palazzo Madama, ed. by S. Pettenati, G. Romano, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Palazzo Madama-Museo Civico d'Arte Antica, 1996, no. 144.
Le Stanze di Artù, ed. by E. Castelnuovo, exhibition catalogue, Alessandria, Complesso conventuale di San Francesco, ex Ospedale militare, 1999-2000, p. 188, no. 29.
S. Castronovo, E. Pagella, Arte in Piemonte (Turin, 2003), II: Il Gotico, p. 81.

All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.