Immaculate Conception; Virgin praying; God the Father with papal tiara making a blessing gesture; orb.
Symbols of the Immaculate Conception accompanied by inscriptions: the sun ('ELECTA VT SOL'), the moon ('PULC[H]RA VT LUN[A]'), the star ('STELLA MARIS'), the Heavenly Gate ('PORTA CELI'), the lily ('SICVT LILIVM INTE[R] SPINAS', the roses ('PLANTACIO R[OSAE]'), the tower of David ('TVRRIS DAVID CU[M] [PROPU]GNA[CULIS]'), the cedar tree ('CEDRVS EXSALTATA'), the olive tree ['OLIVA SPECIO[S]A'), the well of living water ('PVTEV[S] AQVAR[VM] VIVENT[IVM]'), the blossoming branch of the Tree of Jesse ('V[IR]GA IESSE FLORUIT'), the mirror ('SPECV[LUM] SINE MACULA), the fountain ('FONS [H]ORTOR[VM]'), the enclosed garden ( '[H]ORTV[S] CONCLVSVS'), and the City of God ('CIVITAS DEI').
Inscription at the top: 'TOTA PVLCHRA E(s) AMICA MEA ET M(a)CLVA NO[N] EST IN TE'.
Crosshatched background.
Westwood 1876: German, 16th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Comments
A cast was made of this piece in the 19th century and the photograph on this page is a photograph of this cast (Courtauld Institute of Art, Witt and Conway Library, no. 307).
Provenance
Sneyd collection.
Bibliography
J. O. Westwood, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), no. 906 (`55. 53).
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