Attack on the Castle of Love; winged God of Love throwing arrows at lovers; knights in armour assaulting the castle; ladies throwing flowers from the battlements; catapult to throw baskets of roses; ladies pouring baskets of roses on the attackers; courting couples; knight climbing a ladder; knight with a hammer; mock tournament; ladies and knights in armour jousting with oak branches; crossbow; horses; swords; shields; catapult; tree; towers; portcullis; brickwork.
Koechlin 1924: France, 1st half of the 14th century.
Vienna 1964: France, 3rd quarter of the 14th century.
Haag 2006: France, beginning of the 14th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: France, beginning of 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy.
Reverse
Back turned with a depression for (missing) mirror. Edges on the back seem to have been filed or thinned. Various inscriptions in black and red ink: '159'.
Object Condition
Pierced with hole (probably for hanging); cracks.
Missing: four corner terminals.
Provenance
Acquired in 1872 from Egger.
Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 407, 408, 489; II, no. 1094; III, pl. CLXXXVI.
Katalog der Sammlung für Plastik und Kunstgewerbe (Vienna, 1964), I. Mittelalter, no. 12.
Images of Love and Death in Renaissance and Late Medieval Art, exhibition catalogue, ed. by W. R. Levin, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, November 1975-January 1976, p. 107.
The Wild Man. Medieval Myth and Symbolism, ed. by T. Husband, exhibition catalogue, New York, The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980-1981, p. 73.
Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. by P. Barnet, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, pp. 70-74.
Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation, 962 bis 1806: Von Otto dem Grossen bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters, ed. by M. Puhle and C.-P. Hasse, exhibition catalogue, Dresden, 2006, pp. 351-353, no. IV.121.
Margarete Gräfin von Tirol: Leben und Schicksal einer Fürstin - Margareta Contessa del Tirolo, ed. by J. Hörmann-Thurn und Taxis, exhibition catalogue, Meran, Landesmuseum Schloss Tirol, 30 June-19 November 2007.
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