The two satirical scenes that decorate this carving take inspiration from the complexities of love. One suggests the attraction between the sexes during courtship, while the other alludes to infidelity after marriage. Moralistic themes of this sort were often inspired by late medieval theater.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Base for a Statuette
Date:early 16th century
Culture:North French or South Netherlandish
Medium:Elephant ivory
Dimensions:Overall: 3 5/8 x 4 3/4 x 4 9/16 in. (9.2 x 12.1 x 11.6 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1955
Accession Number:55.168
[ Frédéric Spitzer Austrian, Paris d. 1890, Paris (by 1890–92, sold 1893)] ; his posthumous sale, Chevallier & Mannheim, Paris (April 17–June 16, 1893, no. 169) ; [ Godefroy Brauer, Paris (in 1893, as agent for Kann (?))] ; Maurice Kann, Paris (1893 (?)–sold 1910) ; his posthumous sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris (December 5-8, 1910, no. 227) ; Edouard Larcade Bordeaux 1871– Paris 1945, Paris ? ; [ L.P. Bresset et Fils, Paris (sold 1955)]
Indianapolis Museum of Art. "Treasures from the Metropolitan: catalogue of the inaugural exhibition of the Indianapolis Museum of Art," October 25, 1970–January 3, 1971.
University of Michigan Museum of Art. "Images of Love and Death in Renaissance and Late Medieval Art," November 21, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. "Gardens of the Middle Ages," March 20–May 1, 1983.
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. "Gardens of the Middle Ages," May 20–July 4, 1983.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Love and War: A Manual for Life in the Late Middle Ages," November 8, 1998–January 31, 1999.
Brunswick, Me. Bowdoin College Museum of Art. "The Ivory Mirror: The Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe," June 24–November 26, 2017.
New York. The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rich Man, Poor Man: Art, Class, and Commerce in a Late Medieval Town," March 6, 2023–February 4, 2024.
La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité, Moyen-Age, Renaissance. Vol. I. Mâcon: Imprimerie Protat Frères, 1890–1891. Ivoire 134, p. 71.
Spitzer, Frédéric, ed. La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité -- Moyen-Age -- Renaissance. Vol. 1. Paris: Maison Quantin, 1890–1893. Ivoire 134, p. 67.
Catalogue des objets d'art et de haute curiosité: antiques, du moyen-âge & de la renaissance: composant l'importante et précieuse Collection Spitzer. Vol. 1. Paris: Chevallier and Mannheim, April 17–June 16, 1893. no. 169, p. 30, pl. III.
Objets d'art et de haute curiosité du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et autres [...] Provenant de la Collection Maurice Kann. Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, December 5–8, 1910. no. 227, p. 37, ill. opp. p. 40.
Bode, Wilhelm von. La collection Maurice Kann. Paris: s.n., 1911. p. 37.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 1246, p. 457.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 1246, pp. 435–36.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "'Additions to the Collections,' Eighty-Sixth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1955-1956." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15, no. 2 (October 1956). p. 44.
Young, Bonnie. "Scenes in an Ivory Garden." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 14, no. 10 (June 1956). pp. 252–56, ill. p. 253.
Ostoia, Vera K. The Middle Ages: Treasures from the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. no. 108, pp. 228–229, 261, (acc. no. misidentified as 56.168).
Levin, William R., ed. Images of Love and Death in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1975. no. 76, pp. 114–15, pl. XIX.
Stokstad, Marilyn, and Jerry Stannard, ed. Gardens of the Middle Ages. Lawrence: Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1983. no. 68, pp. 218–19.
Theuerkauff, Christian. Die Bildwerke in Elfenbein des 16.–19. Jahrhunderts: Skulpturengalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Die Bildwerke der Skulpturengalerie Berlin, Vol. 2. Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 1986. pp. 337–39, fig. 116c.
Notter, Annick, ed. Fragments d'une splendeur: Arras à la fin du Moyen Age. Arras: Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Arras, 2000. p. 33, fig. 30.
"Chichart Bailly and the Specter of Death: Memento Mori in a Sixteenth-Century Estate Inventory." In The Ivory Mirror : The Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe. Brunswick, Maine: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 2017. p. 115, pl. 48.
Perkinson, Stephen. The Ivory Mirror : The Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe. Brunswick, Maine: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 2017. p. 68, pl. 48.
Attributed to Nikolaus von Hagenau (German, ca. 1445–died before 1538)
ca. 1500
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