Ivory mirror valve carved in bas-relief depicting... - Lot 23 - Coutau-Bégarie

Lot 23
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Estimation :
4000 - 6000 EUR
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Result : 21 000EUR
Ivory mirror valve carved in bas-relief depicting... - Lot 23 - Coutau-Bégarie
Ivory mirror valve carved in bas-relief depicting the Crown Dispute. Round in shape and squared off with foliage ornamentation, the composition comprises four scenes separated by a central vertical tree and the horizontal branches of two lateral trees. At top left, a man holds a pair of gloves in his right hand, while a woman holds a crown in her left. At top right, the man approaches the woman to embrace her. Bottom left, the woman crowns her kneeling lover. On the right, the scene is enigmatic: seated, the man holds a falcon in his gloved hand, while seated as well, the woman, with a dog on her lap, seems to be adjusting the crown on the man's head. The woman's hair is sometimes loose, sometimes styled in a choppy style. Paris, circa 1310-1320 H. 7.2 cm - W. 7.2 cm - D. 37.26 gr (small crack) Provenance: Former Louis-Pierre Bresset collection, Château de la Rochelambert, Haute-Loire. An illustration of courtly love, this valve is a rare example of secular representation in the art of 14th-century Parisian ivory makers. Raymond Koechlin and Danielle Gaborit-Chopin have catalogued fourteen mirror valves featuring much the same decoration. One of these, from the Albert Denison, Baron Londesboroug collection Londesboroug, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum Museum (inv. 1400-1888), but the one that is probably closest to the valve presented here belongs to the collections of the Musée du Louvre (inv. MRR197A) (fig.). Works consulted: P Williamson and G Davies, Medieval Ivoiry Carvings, 1200-1550, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014, tome II, p 582
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