Relief, Ivory Writing Tablet with the Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1400 - 9.4 cm - Ivory

Ivory Writing Tablet with the Adoration of the Magi
Ivory, France or the Rhineland, circa 1400
Dimensions: 9.4 × 5.5 cm
With CITES certificate for commercial activities within the EU

This finely carved plaque depicts the Adoration of the Magi, a popular subject in late medieval devotional art. Beneath a richly ornamented Gothic arcade with crocketed finials, Mary and the Christ Child are prominently positioned slightly to the right of center. The Christ Child is shown entirely in profile, while Mary is turned slightly toward the viewer. Seated on Mary’s lap, the Child receives a gift with both hands from the kneeling king. One of the standing kings points upward toward the star, which serves as a heavenly guide. The figures are distinguished by expressive faces, finely rendered drapery, and a lively sense of interaction.

The scene is carved on the exterior of an ivory writing tablet, a small utilitarian object whose interior surfaces were originally filled with wax for writing with a stylus. Such tablets, often composed of multiple panels, were valued for both their practical use and their religious decoration. Typically, only the outer panels were carved with figural scenes, frequently derived from popular themes found in manuscript miniatures or diptychs.

A closely comparable example is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (inv. no. 496-1923), also depicting the Adoration of the Magi. Both tablets are representative of the refined ivory carving produced in France or the Rhineland around 1400, in which functionality and devotional imagery merge in portable objects of high artistic quality.

Provenance: A Dutch private collection. Aquired for this collection in the fifty's or sixty's of the past century.

In good condition. One hole in the top probably made to fit the tablet on a wall. On small crack in the lower part. Otherwise in very good condition given the age of this object.

CITES certificate present for commercial activities within the EU

This item contains material (e.g. ivory) that falls under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
In accordance with CITES regulations, this object can only be shipped within the European Union.
Unfortunately, we are unable to export this piece outside the EU.

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