Panels, forty carved ivory panels mounted as a cabinet from an Altarpiece of Casket, depicting the Life of Christ & the Virgin, South Netherlandish, ca. 1470-1500, mounted on a 19th century cabinet

Series of forty carved ivory panels mounted as a cabinet depicting the Life of Christ & the Virgin. The series begins at the lower left hand corner with the rejection of the offering of Joachim and Anna, and ends at the top right hand corner with Pentecost. The relief of Joseph carpentering beside the seated Virgin in the bottom row is in a different style and would appear to be of a later date.

The cabinet, made from a dark stained wood with a bay projection at the centre, is of modern manufacture, probably of late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century date. It comprises three columns of five drawers, the front face of each drawer with two ivory plaques inset; in addition, the sides of the bay projection are ornamented with further single inset ivory plaques. The plaques have been placed in a loose narrative order, running from the left side of the bottom row and reading from left to right, row by row. However, due to a confusion over the nature of some of the scenes depicted, the maker of the cabinet, placed a number of plaques in the wrong position, and also seems not to have appreciated that several of the scenes were formed from two plaques rather than one.
The plaques show: (bottom row): the Rejection of Joachim and Anna's offering; the Angel appearing to Anna; Joachim among his flock; the Annunciation; the Visitation; Joseph working beside the Virgin (a later sixteenth-century plaque); the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple; the Annunciation to Joachim; (second row): the left half of two plaques depicting the Adoration of the Magi; the Birth of the Virgin; the Annunciation to the Shepherds; the Nativity; the right half of two plaques depicting the Adoration of the Magi; the Presentation of Christ in the Temple; the Massacre of the Innocents; the Flight into Egypt; (third row): Christ among the Doctors; the Baptism of Christ; the Expulsion of the Moneylenders; the Raising of Lazarus; the Entry into Jerusalem; the Last Supper; the Agony in the Garden; the Miracle of the Corn; (forth row): the Arrest of Christ; Herod ordering the Massacre of the Innocents; the Flagellation; the Mocking of Christ; the Carrying of the Cross; the Stripping of Christ; the Crucifixion; the Deposition; (top row): the Entombment; the Harrowing of Hell; the Resurrection; the Noli me Tangere; the Supper at Emmaus; the Transfiguration; the Ascension; and the Pentecost. Each ivory plaque has an incised border.
The 39 fifteenth-century plaques constitute a cycle of the Virgin, and Christ's infancy, Ministry and Passion.

Bequeathed by Mrs Cowell

In the collection of Mrs Mary Margaret Elizabeth Cowell by 1923 (London 1923, cat. no. 161); she has aqcuired pieces as early as the 1880s (see cat. no. 77). Bequeathed to the Museum by Mrs Cowell in 1925.

Historical significance: The ivory panels probably originally belonged to a large casket, altarpiece or winged tabernacle.

This set of fourty panels was made in the South Netherlands in about 1470 to 1500, although one of the panels in the bottom row, showing Joseph at work beside the seated Virgin, is likely to date from about 1600. The panels, carved in ivory, represent scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin. These panels are mounted in a later wood framework, a cabinet, probably of the late 19th or early 20th century. It comprises three columns of five drawers.
The plaques have been placed in a loose narrative order, running from the left side of the bottom row and reading from left to right, row by row. However, due to a confusion over the nature of some of the scenes depicted, the maker of the cabinet, placed a number of plaques in the wrong position, and also seems not to have appreciated that several of the scenes were formed from two plaques rather than one.
Originally they may have decorated a large casket, altarpiece or winged tabernacle.

A.70-1925