Gothic Ivories Project

Lid
Register 1: Presentation in the Temple; Christ standing on the altar between the Virgin and Simeon. Christ among the Doctors. Baptism of Christ by saint John the Baptist; angel holding Christ's tunic. Christ in the house of Martha and Mary.
Register 2: Entry into Jerusalem. Meal at Bethany (at the house of Simon the Leper)(Last Supper); saint Mary Magdalene anointing Christ's feet. Christ washing the feet of the apostles. Agony in the Garden (Christ at Gethsemane).
Body, front
Betrayal (Taking of Christ; Kiss of Judas); Christ restores Malchus' ear, cut by saint Peter. Flagellation. Carrying of the Cross. Crucifixion; swooning Virgin supported by saint John the Evangelist; onlookers.
End, right
Deposition. Entombment.
Body, back
Resurrection. Noli me Tangere (Christ appearing to saint Mary Magdalene). Doubting Thomas (missing). Christ and the three Holy Women.
End, left
Harrowing of Hell with Adam and Eve coming out of the Mouth of Hell. Christ appearing to saint Peter.
Crosshatched background. Ogee arches. Brickwork. Foliated borders of vine scrolls.
Bottom: chequered board of 64 black-and-white bone squares with wide borders divided by bands of zig-zag intarsia.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of gilding for the architectural details, costume and hair, green for the ground, landscape and some costume details, and blue for arches and costume. Border of gilded vine scrolls.

Object Condition
Missing: Doubting Thomas scene on the back panel (replaced with a plain bone fill).
Several panels cracked and warped.

Comments
Base moulding decorated with drill holes and saw cuts with triple bracket feet at the corners and a double bracket in the centre. The boxes in this group cannot be earlier than the Biblia Pauperum, generally dated c. 1430, as a number of the Passion scenes are based on the woodcuts of that work (Randall 1985). Randall identifies the 2nd scene of register 2 on the lid as the Supper at Emmaus, but the Mary Magdalene episode occurs at the Last Supper at Bethany.

Provenance
Collection of Count Girolamo Possenti: sold, Florence, Raphael Dura, 1 April 1880, lot 38. Bought by Henry Walters from Ongania in Venice before 1931; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Bibliography
R. H. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 1985), no. 359.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 175.

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