Gothic Ivories Project | Casket (coffret) (Front, open)

Paper (inside);wood (core);metal (fittings);leather (underside and inside);fabric (background);bone

Lid
Maiden holding a unicorn on a leash.
Body, front
Hybrids fighting.
End, right
Hunter shielding his face; hares; dog; hunting horn; spear.
Body, back
Dog attacking a bear.
End, left
Dog attacking a unicorn.
Roped border. Crosshatched background.

De Ricci 1914: France, 15th century.
Museum's opinion 2013: French, 15th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of black painting.

Reverse
Engraved on all sides.

Object Condition
Part of the roped border is missing.

Comments
The inside of the casket is lined with handwritten paper.

Provenance
Collection of Anton Josef Essingh (b. 1787, d. 1864), Cologne: his sale, Heberle, Cologne, 18 September 1865, lot 899. Collection of Barthélemy Rey, Paris (in 1914). Bequeathed by Martí Estany in 1945.

Bibliography
S. de Ricci, Catalogue de la collection Barthélemy Rey (Paris, 1914), no. 25.
A. Maseres, ‘La collecció d'arquetes de Martí Estany’, Butlletí dels Museus d'Art de Barcelona, VII, 79 (1937), pp. 357-367, p. 363 and 366, fig. p. 361.
M. R. Manote, Guia art gòtic (Barcelona, 1998), p. 241, no. 39.
A. Galán y Galindo, 'Las arquetas de trovadores, canciones, música y amor. Desde Bagdad, a los trovadores medievales, pasando por Córdoba', in Arte, arqueología e historia, 18 (2011), pp. 77-106, pp. 34-35.

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