The Annunciation
- Object:
- Place of origin:
- Date:
second half of the fifteenth century (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Workshop of Embriachi (possibly, sculptor)
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Image unavailable
This dyptich of the Annunciation is possibly by the workshop of the Embriachi.
It shows on the left leaf a kneeling angel holding a lily, and in a lunette above, the half-length figure of God the Father.
On the right leaf the Virgin stands before a lectern, and in the lunette is the Dove.
The Embriachi workshop, a famous ivory-carving family who originated in Florence but had a workshop in Venice by the 1430s. There were able to employ local workers specialising in ‘certosina’ (inlay of stained woods, bone and horn), and the workshop produced items carved in bone (usually horse or ox) with wood and bone marquetry.
As well as altarpieces, the workshop also made caskets as bridal gifts to hold jewels or documents, and these were often decorated with scenes from mythology.
Physical description
On the left leaf is the kneeling angel holding a lily, and in a lunette above, the half-length figure of God the Father. On the right leaf the Virgin stands before a lectern, and in the lunette is the Dove. The figures in bone cut out and mounted on a horn background, in a case of gilded bronze and silver.
Place of Origin
Italy (made)
Date
second half of the fifteenth century (made)
Artist/maker
Workshop of Embriachi (possibly, sculptor)
Dimensions
Height: 17.78 cm, Width: 17.15 cm
Object history note
Aquired in Paris from M. Piot who is said to have obtained it in Venice. The method of mounting carvings in bone and ivory on a horn background seems to be peculiar to Italian work of this period.
Descriptive line
Diptych in ivory, showing the Annunciation, Italy, Florence, late 15th century
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1857. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 11.
Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, pp. 101, 102.
Exhibition History
Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance 1400-1600 (Detroit Institute of Arts 17/11/1958-06/01/1959)
Production Note
Italian carvings of the early Renaissance in bone and ivory, other than works of the Embriachi School, are rare.
Materials
Silver; Bronze; Ivory; Horn
Techniques
Carving; Gilding
Subjects depicted
Mary (Virgin Mary); Angel; God; Lily; Lunette
Categories
Sculpture; Religion; Christianity
Collection code
SCP
