Gawain on the perilous bed; bed on wheels and with bells; lion; shield with a lion's paw; swords falling from the sky; Castle of Maidens, ladies watching from the castle battlements, including a queen; lions; trees.
Randall did not know this panel when he wrote his article in 1997, but he argued that the back panel and the sword bridge side were carved c. 1320-1340, while he dates the front panel to 1340-1360. On stylistic grounds, this side showing the perilous bed scene belongs to the earlier campaign.
Attribution
Unknown
Object Condition
Missing: silver mounts.
Recessed borders for mounts.
Provenance
Collection of James Newton; Sotheby's, New York, 29 January 2009, lot 304: bought by the Museum thanks to the Carl Otto von Kienbusch Jr. Memorial Collection Fund and the Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund.
Bibliography
R. H. Randall Jr., 'Games on a Medieval Ivory', in Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, 56 (1997), pp. 3-9 (part of the same casket as the one discussed in the article).
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 227.
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