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Oliphant (Side)

Oliphant (Side)
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Subject
Secular.

Repository Institution
www.polomuseale.firenze.it

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Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello

Inv. 39 C

Walrus ivory

Height: 525mm
Width: 52mm

Foliated interlaced scrolls (rinceaux); fantastical animals; men; Mouthpiece: head of animal with open mouth.
Incised inscription near the mouthpiece in runes: translated as 'Res made me'.

Florence 1989: Norway, 2nd half of 13th century.
Gaborit-Chopin 1978: Norway, mid 13th century.
Museum's opinion 2012: Norway, 2nd half of 13th century.


Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Carved on all sides.

Provenance
Said to have come from the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (see Gaborit-Chopin 1978 who identifies this piece as one of the objects described in the inventories of the Sainte-Chapelle before 1377 and suggests this olifant could have been given as a present in 1274 by king Magnus to Philip III of France, in exchange for a fragment of the Crown of Thorns). Carrand collection: bequeathed by Louis Carrand (d. 1888) to the Museo del Bargello in 1888.

Bibliography
S. J. Morand, Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle royale du Palais (Paris, 1790), p. 49, fig. 49.
U. Rossi, 'La Collezione Carrand al Museo Nazionale del Bargello', in Archivio Storico dell'arte II (1889), pp. 15-16.
I. B. Supino, Catalogo del R. Museo Nazionale di Firenze (Rome, 1898), p. 211, no. 39.
A. Vidier, Le trésor de la Sainte-Chapelle: Inventaires et documents (Paris, 1911), inv. I p. 54, no. 156, inv. J p. 67, no. 36; inv. K p. 122, no. 542.
A. Goldschmidt, Die Elfenbeinskulpturen, 4 vols (Berlin, 1914-1926), III, p. 39, no. 141.
La Caccia e le arti, exhibition catalogue, Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 1960, p. 75, no. V2.
Nörge 872-1972, Middelalderkunst fra Norge i andre land [Norwegian Medieval Art Abroad], dir. by M. Blindheim, exhibition catalogue, Oslo, Universitets Oldsaksamling, 1972, pp. 24-25, no. 5.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires du Moyen Age (Freiburg, 1978), pp. 113-114, figs. 165-166.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Avori medievali - Museo Nazionale del Bargello (Florence, 1988), p. 56, no. 14.
Arti del Medioevo e del Rinascimento. Omaggio ai Carrand, 1889-1989, exhibition catalogue, Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, 1989, pp. 240-241, no. 23 (A. Tori).


Image

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