The Annunciation and the Nativity thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 8, The William and Eileen Ruddock Gallery

The Annunciation and the Nativity

Panel
ca. 1000-1050 (carving)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is an ivory plaque probably made in Liège or Cologne in the first half of the eleventh century, depicting the Annunciation and Nativity. The story of the Virgin’s life could be found in the Gospels, but artists embellished the basic narrative with picturesque details. For example, in the Nativity scene in this plaque, Mary’s shoes are neatly placed on a footstool beside her.
This relief is an exact, but apparently contemporary, copy of the upper left-hand portion of a book cover, formerly in the Cathedral Treasury in Zagreb (Croatia). It should be noted that the Zagreb plaques were stolen, presumably between about 1914 and 1928, and were purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art. They were later returned to Zagreb and reset into the seventeenth-century silver cover of the Plenarium from whence they had come.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Annunciation and the Nativity (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Ivory carving
Brief description
Panel, ivory, depicting the Annuniciation and Nativity, probably Liège or Cologne, ca.1000-1050
Physical description
In the upper part of the plaque is the Annunciation, in the lower the Nativity. The latter scene shows the Virgin reclining on her bed with ehr shoes placed on a footstool below. Joseph is shown seated in the bottom right corner with a small tree separating him from teh Virgin, and above is the Christ-Child in cradle with the ox and the ass behind. Above is a representation of the city of Bethlehem.
The scenes are framed by a plain moulded border at the sides and top.
Dimensions
  • Height: 10cm
  • Width: 7cm
  • Depth: 0.7cm
  • Weight: 0.04kg
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
Object history
Formerly in the Webb collection. Acquired by the museum in 1867.

Historical significance: This relief is an exact, but apparently contemporary, copy of the upper left-hand portion of a book cover, formerly in the Cathedral Treasury in Zagreb (Croatia), now in the Cleveland Museum of Art. The upper right-hand portion is reproduced in an ivory relief in the British Museum, which formed originally part of a book cover with the present relief (Goldschmidt II, pl. XXI).
Historical context
The relief formed originally part of a book cover.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is an ivory plaque probably made in Liège or Cologne in the first half of the eleventh century, depicting the Annunciation and Nativity. The story of the Virgin’s life could be found in the Gospels, but artists embellished the basic narrative with picturesque details. For example, in the Nativity scene in this plaque, Mary’s shoes are neatly placed on a footstool beside her.
This relief is an exact, but apparently contemporary, copy of the upper left-hand portion of a book cover, formerly in the Cathedral Treasury in Zagreb (Croatia). It should be noted that the Zagreb plaques were stolen, presumably between about 1914 and 1928, and were purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art. They were later returned to Zagreb and reset into the seventeenth-century silver cover of the Plenarium from whence they had come.
Bibliographic references
  • A. Goldschmidt, Die Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der Zeit der karolingischen und sächsischen Kaiser, II, Berlin, 1918, no. 63, pl. XXI.
  • Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1867. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1. London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868., p. 10.
  • Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. London: Published under the Authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929. Part I. p. 71.
  • An Ivory Book Cover in the John Huntington Collection. Bulletin of the Cleverland Museum of Art. October, 1928. pp. 165-168.
  • Williamson, Paul. Medieval Ivory Carvings. Early Christian to Romanesque. London, V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2010, pp. 222, 3, cat.no. 55
Collection
Accession number
267-1867

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Record createdDecember 12, 2006
Record URL
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