Inv. 1241
Seated Virgin and Child; Christ walking in the Virgin's lap; Franciscan nun with knotted belt kneeling in donor position; saint Francis of Assisi; angel holding a navette and swinging a censer.
Pointed trefoils in the spandrels; pinnacles.
Paderborn 2011-2012 (A. von Hülsen-Esch): Germany (Cologne), c. 1350-1360.
Attribution
Unknown
Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges, miters filled with ivory.
Object Condition
Missing: right hand of the Virgin.
Comments
A. von Hülsen-Esch (2011-2012) argued the kneeling figure may be saint Clare.
Provenance
The museum was founded in the 1880s in the Capuchin friary of Marseille by Fr. Louis-Antoine de Porrentruy; the museum moved to Rome in 1905 (via Boncompagni) and reopened only in 1912. In 1927, it was transferred to Assisi, but came back to Rome in 1953 (via Sicilia). It settled in the current location in 1968. This particular piece may come into the collection when it was in Marseille.
Bibliography
B. Kleinschmidt, 'Der heilige Franziskus in der Elfenbeinplastik', in Franziskanische Studien 1 (1914), pp. 86-136.
P. Gerlach, S. Gieben, M. D'Alatri, Il Museo Francescano (Rome, 1973), p. 82.
C. T. Little, 'Gothic Ivory Carving in Germany', in Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age (Detroit, 1997), pp. 81- 93.
Thomaso de Celano: Leben und Wunder des heiligen Franziskus von Assisi, Franziskanische Quellenschriften 5 (Kevelaer, 2001).
Franziskus - Licht aus Assisi, exhibition catalogue, Paderborn, Erzbischöflichen Diözesanmuseum and Franziskanerkloster, 9 December 2011-6 May 2012, pp. 274-275, no. 53 (A. von Hülsen-Esch).
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