Gothic Ivories Project | Crozier (crosse) (Side 1)

Volute
Coronation of the Virgin with Christ seated to the left; two standing angels holding candlesticks; two angels holding curtains.
Along the outer edge of the volute: unidentified figure in bust holding an open book; on either side, six figures holding scrolls and books (possibly prophets). Foliated decoration.
Monster swallowing the base of the volute (dragon head).
Knop with gables
Saint James the Greater with pilgrim's staff; saint John the Baptist; Saint Bartholomew with a flaying knife and a book; unidentified bishop saint (?) holding a book.
Painted inscription: 'VENI DE LIBANO VENI CORONABERIS. ASU[M]PTA ES'.

Darcel and Basilewski 1874: Italy, 15th century.
Kube 1925 and Leningrad 1973 (Kryzhanovskaya): Italy, 14th century.
Kryzhanovskaya 2014: Italian, 14th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive gilding and polychromy: gold, black and red.
Painted inscription: 'VENI DE LIBANO VENI CORONABERIS. ASU[M]PTA ES'.

Reverse
Carved on both sides.

Object Condition
This crozier is made of 15 cylinders of ivory attached around a wooden core and can be disassembled into 5 pieces, which are screwed to each other. The baton of the crozier consists of 10 different parts. Minor chips.

Provenance
Collection of Alexander Petrovich Basilewski (b. 1829, d. 1899), Paris, acquired between 1870 and 1874; acquired by the Museum in 1885.

Bibliography
A. Darcel, A. P. Basilewski, Collection Basilewski. Catalogue raisonné (Paris, 1874), no. 110.
J. O. Westwood, Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), p. 409.
N. Kondakov, Imperatorskii Ermitazh. Ukazatel' otdeleniia srednikh vekov i epokhi vozrozhdeniia [Guide to the Department of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance of the Imperial Hermitage] (Saint Petersburg, 1891), no. 45, p. 157.
A. N. Kube, Reznaia kost'. Katalog [Ivory Carvings Catalogue Hermitage], (Leningrad [Saint-Petersburg], 1925), no. 92.
Zapadnoevropeiskaia reznaia kost' IX-XIX vekov iz sobraniia Ermitazha: katalog vystavki, exhibition catalogue, Leningrad [Saint Petersburg], The State Hermitage Museum, 1973, no. 135.
Gosudarstvennyi Ermitazh. Prikladnoe iskusstvo Italii v sobranii Ermitazha, exhibition catalogue, Leningrad [Saint Petersburg], 1985, no. 8.
M. Kryzhanovskaya, Western European Medieval Ivories. Catalogue of the Collection (Зaпaднoeврoпeйскaя рeзнaя кoстъ Срeдних вeкoв. Кataлoг кoллeкции), (St Peterburg, 2014), no. 150.

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