Gothic Ivories Project | Casket, with arches (coffret; frise d'arcatures) (End, right)

Casket, with arches (coffret; frise d'arcatures) (End, right)

Casket, with arches (coffret; frise d'arcatures) (End, right)

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Front

Back

End, left

Front

Lid

Bottom

Interior

Links

Subject
Religious. Life of the Virgin. Infancy of Christ.

Repository Institution
www.glasgowlife.org.uk

To purchase an image
www.glasgowlife.org.uk

Glasgow, the Burrell Collection

Inv. 21.15

Ivory;metal (fittings)

Height: 75mm
Width: 231mm
Depth: 118mm
Weight: 757.5g

Lid
Herod ordering the Massacre of the Innocents; Massacre of the Innocents.
Body, front
Birth of the Virgin; midwife holding the Virgin; hanging lamp. Annunciation. Nativity; Virgin holding the swaddled child. Presentation in the Temple; Virgin holding Christ. Lion under the lock.
End, right
Adoring Magi (forming the Adoration of the Magi continued on the back panel).
Body, back
Seated Virgin and Child (part of the Adoration of the Magi). Death of the Virgin (Dormition); Christ holding the soul of the Virgin. Coronation of the Virgin.
End, left
Two standing angels holding navettes.

Glasgow 1988: French, early 14th century.
Glasgow Museums' opinion 2013: French, 14th century; the lid appears to be an addition to the box, though also 14th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of gilding and polychromy: gold (decorative pattern on the background; along the hems; crowns; hair and beards), red (books; architectural details), black (shoes), green (haloes; pillow).

Reverse
Carved on all sides. Bottom flat and smooth.

Object Condition
Lid broken in two pieces which are held together by two metal plaques.

Provenance
Bought by Sir William Burrell from John Hunt (21 May 1935) for £145; given to the City of Glasgow by Sir William and Constance, Lady Burrell, in 1944.

Bibliography
Rarer Gifts than Gold: Fourteenth-Century Art in Scottish Collections, exhibition catalogue, Glasgow, Burrell Collection, 28 April-26 June 1988, no. 9, p. 17.

Image

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