About the Artwork
This ivory lid for a casket (small box) depicts scenes inspired by medieval courtly romance. On the left, echoing many popular tales of forbidden love, an eloping couple gallops away from a castle and, below, escapes by boat. In the center, two knights compete in a joust as aristocratic spectators - including amorous couples, a falconer, and a queen with her lapdog - watch from wooden stands. On the right, knights clad in mail armor besiege the allegorical "Castle of Love" with catapults laden with flowers; damsels defend its ramparts by throwing blossoms of their own. These romantic and often playful themes were wildly popular in late medieval art and literature.
Casket Lid
ca. between 1340 and 1350
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French
French
Ivory
Overall: 5 × 9 1/2 × 1/4 inches (12.7 × 24.1 × 0.6 cm)
Furniture Accessories
European Sculpture and Dec Arts
Founders Society Purchase, New Endowment Fund, Henry Ford II Fund, Joseph M. de Grimme Memorial Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden III Fund, Benson Ford Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hamilton Fund for Medieval Art, Paul Zuckerman Fund, David L. Klein, Jr. Memorial Foundation, with funds from Gilbert B. and Lila Silverman, and Margaret H. Demant in honor of Peter Barnet
1997.6
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
"M. Manzi" (former owner), engraved across verso top edge
Provenance
by 1892, D. J. J. Escanciano (Spain). until December 15-16, 1919, sold by (Michel Manzi, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, France) lot 47
Collection Dagues (Paris, France)
(Alain Moatti, Paris, France)
(Brimo de Laroussilhe, Paris, France)
1997-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Meyrick, S. "Descriptive Catalogue of the Doucean Museum, now at Goodrich Court - Carvings." The Gentleman's Magazine 159 (April 1836): p. 383, no. 11.
Maskell, W. Ancient and Medieval Ivories in the South Kensington Museum. London 1872, pp. 176-177, no. 7.
Las Joyas de la exposicion historico-europea de Madrid. Exh. cat. Madrid, 1893, pl. 87.
Migeon, G. Exposition rétrospective de l'art français. Exh. cat. Paris, 1900.
Alexandre, A. "La collection Manzi." Les arts 187 (1919): p. 22.
Koechlin, R. Les ivoires gothiques français. Paris, 1924, vol. 2, pp. 457-458, no. 1292.
Beigbeder, O. "Un miroir precieux du Moyen Age: Les coffrets d'ivoire." Plaisir de France 37, no. 381 (September 1970): p. 25.
"Informations." Plaisir de France 39, no. 396 (1972): p. 63.
Gaborit-Chopin, D. Musée du Louvre, Nouvelles acquisitions du département des objets d'art 1980-1984. Paris, 1985, p. 35 (fig. 6e).
"La Chronique des Arts: Principales acquisitions des musees en 1997." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 131 (1998): p. 41 (ill.).
Darr, A. and T. Albainy. "Acquisitions of European sculpture and decorative arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1988 - 1999." The Burlington Magazine 142 (June 2000): p. 405, no. I (color ill.).
Antoine-König, Élisabeth. "The Return of Gawain: Thoughts on Composite Caskets in the Light of Some Recent Acquisitions" In A Reservoir of Ideas: Essays in Honour of Paul Williamson, ed. Glyn Davies and Eleanor Townsend. London, 2017, pp. 159 (ill.); 162.
Sculpta Manent: Sculptures and Reliefs from the North (c. 1300–1600). Exh. cat., Bernard Descheemaeker Works of Art, Antwerp, 2019, p. 14.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
French, Casket Lid, ca. between 1340 and 1350, ivory. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, New Endowment Fund, Henry Ford II Fund, et al., 1997.6.
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