Rook; watchman with his back to a fence, blowing into a horn; dog; flanked by two smaller soldiers with shields.
Westwood 1876: Northern European, 12th century.
Dalton 1909: German, 13th - 15th century.
Randall 1985: Scandinavian, 14th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: Scandinavian, 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Carved in the round.
Object Condition
Missing: right hand and horn.
Comments
The bottom is smooth and flat, carved with 'H' with dots above and below the crossbar.
Similar pieces are to be found in the Musée de Cluny, Paris (Cl. 11286 & Cl. 11285) and the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (71.1157). See related objects.
The example in the Walters Art Museum also bears the inscription 'H' on the base.
Provenance
Collection of Colonel Somers. Collection of John Webb: bought by the British Museum in 1856.
Bibliography
J. O. Westwood, Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), no. 811 (`73.300).
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 391.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 468.
R. H. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 1985), no. 259, p. 176.
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