Gothic Ivories Project | Dagger handle and dagger sheath, with arches and bands of rosettes (manche et fourreau de poignard; décor de roses) (Side 2)

Four busts: a youth and two ladies (?).
On both sides a lozenge enclosing the face of a bearded man.
Pierced trefoils.
Sheath: birds or animals and crouching hybrids; standing female figures with hands joined in prayer (?). Enamelled coats of arms (Van Graes) and crest.

Koechlin 1924: France, 1st half of the 14th century (ivory) and Germany, 2nd half of 14th century (metal mount).
Williamson and Davies 2014: French (Paris) or German (Cologne?), early 14th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Carved in the round.

Object Condition
Side busts repaired.
The blade is not perfectly aligned with the sheath and was probably replaced in the 16th century (according to Rohde 1921-1922).

Provenance
Van Graes family, Westphalia (see coats of arms). According to tradition, this dagger once belonged to Kord Kamphues, judge later turned robber, who was executed in Bevergern on 9 December 1580. In the town hall of the city of Coesfeld (Westphalia), before 1879. Bourgeois collection, Cologne (acquired in 1879). Collection of baron Maurice de Rothschild (at least from 1921); thence by descent, Rothschild collection, Pregny (Switzerland).

Bibliography
J. von Hefner-Alteneck, Trachten (Frankfurt, 1879), III, pl. 191.
A. Ludorff, Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler Westfalens (Münster, 1913), XXXVI: Kreis Coesfeld, pl. XXXVII. Fully accessible online at http://archive.org/stream/bauundkunstdenkm36ludouoft#page/n5/mode/2up [accessed September 2013].
A. Rohde, 'Ein Dolchmesser des 14. Jahrhunderts im Hamburgischen Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe', in Zeitschrift für historiche Waffen- und Kostümkunde 9 (1921-1922), pp. 155-156 (p. 156, fig. 2). Fully accessible online at: http://archive.org/stream/ZeitschriftFuerHistorischeWaffenkunde09#page/n193/mode/1up
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 351, 393, 423; II, no. 1142bis.
T. Müller, 'Ein früher gotischer Prunkdolch', in Pantheon 33 (1975), pp. 203-207.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 224.

Out of copyright. From A. Ludorff, Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler Westfalens (Münster, 1913).

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