Gothic Ivories Project | Saddle (selle) (Right side)

Right side: queen holding a basket; unicorn; standing king; male musician playing a string instrument; goat; hybrid; angel; standing female figure holding a book.
Left side: standing figure holding a scroll; hybrids fighting; saint George and the dragon; princess praying; naked figure; jester (?); female figure holding a scroll with inscriptions (?); standing male figure trampling an animal.
Chequered pattern. Scrolls (?) on the seat.

Von Schlosser 1919: early 15th century.
Nuremberg 2010: Southern Germany, c. 1440.

Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Engraved on all sides.

Object Condition
Missing: numerous horn plaques, exposing the leather and the wood.

Provenance
Collection of prince Karl of Prussia (b. 1801, d. 1883) and of his son, prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (b. 1828, d. 1885), kept at Monbijou Castle; acquired by the Museum in 1883, initially kept at the Zeughaus.

Bibliography
J. von Schlosser, 'Elfenbeinsättel des ausgehenden Mittelalters', in Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, 15 (1894), pp. 260-294, no. 7. Fully accessible online as part of the Heidelberger historische Bestände: http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/jbksak1894/0318 [accessed 24/07/2013].
H. Müller, Das Berliner Zeughaus. Vom Arsenal zum Museum (Berlin, 1994), p. 158, ill. no. 194-195.
Bilder und Zeugnisse der deutschen Geschichte. Aus den Sammlungen des Deutschen Historischen Museums, ed. by L. Koschnick (Berlin, 1997), I, p. 19.
Edel und frei: Franken im Mittelalter, ed. by W. Jahn, J. Schumann, E. Brockhoff, exhibition catalogue, Forchheim, Pfalzmuseum, 11 May – 24 October 2004, p. 290, ill. no. 122.
Karl IV. Kaiser von Gottes Gnaden: Kunst und Repräsentation des Hauses Luxemburg 1310 - 1437 (Munich, 2006), pp. 497-498, no. 165.
M. Verő, 'Bemerkungen zu den Beinsätteln aus der Sigismundzeit', in Sigismundus rex et imperator: Kunst und Kultur zur Zeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg 1387-1437, exhibition catalogue, Budapest and Luxemburg, 2006, pp. 270-278 (p. 277, no. 3).
Burg und Herrschaft, ed. by R. Atzbach, S. Lüken, H. Ottomeyer, exhibition catalogue, 25 June 2010-24 October 2010, Berlin, Deutsches Historisches Museum, no. I.16.
Mythos Burg, ed. by G. U. Großmann, exhibition catalogue, Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 2010, no. I.16.

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