The Virgin and Child thumbnail 1
The Virgin and Child thumbnail 2
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The Virgin and Child

Triptych
ca. 1390-1400 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This bone triptych of the Virgin and Child is made by the workshop of Baldassare Embriachi (Ubriachi) in North Italy, Florence or Venice, in about 1390-1400.
In the centre stands the Virgin holding the Child, who plays with a bird. On the left wing St. Agnes with a lamb. On the right a virgin saint with a palm branch and a book.

The Embriachi workshop was a north Italian family of entrepreneurs and carvers. The precise location of the workshop is unknown, except that it originated in Florence in around probably the 1370s.
Baldassare Embrichi, a member of a Florentine noble family, and the Florentine literary circles, during his career acted as both merchant and diplomat. He was therefore rather the financial means behind the bone-carving workshop that bears his name, rather than its leading artist. By 1395, political and financial circumstances had forced him to transfer to Venice. The suggested time range of activity for the workshop differs, from the tightest being 1390-1405, to a wider span of 1370s until at least 1416, but certainly no later than 1433.
They employed 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.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Virgin and Child (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bone, pigment, horn and intarsia. In a wooden frame of inlaid wood and horn.
Brief description
Triptych, bone, horn and intarsia, the Virgin and Child, workshop of Baldassare Ubriachi, North Italy (Florence or Venice), ca. 1390-1400
Physical description
Triptych. In the centre, beneath a trilobed arch, stands the Virgin holding the Child, who plays with a bird that the Virgin supports on her right hand. To either side are blank plaques of bone. On the left wing St. Agnes with a lamb standing beneath a building. On the right an unidentified virgin saint with a palm branch and a book. There are remains of red paint on the background and the lips of the figures, and dark blue on the eyes and on architectural details such as windows.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26.8cm
  • Open width: 20.2cm
  • Closed width: 10.16cm
Object history
In the collection of Captain Henry Boyles Murray (1843-1910). From the Murray bequest, London, 1910 (no. 52).
Subjects depicted
Summary
This bone triptych of the Virgin and Child is made by the workshop of Baldassare Embriachi (Ubriachi) in North Italy, Florence or Venice, in about 1390-1400.
In the centre stands the Virgin holding the Child, who plays with a bird. On the left wing St. Agnes with a lamb. On the right a virgin saint with a palm branch and a book.

The Embriachi workshop was a north Italian family of entrepreneurs and carvers. The precise location of the workshop is unknown, except that it originated in Florence in around probably the 1370s.
Baldassare Embrichi, a member of a Florentine noble family, and the Florentine literary circles, during his career acted as both merchant and diplomat. He was therefore rather the financial means behind the bone-carving workshop that bears his name, rather than its leading artist. By 1395, political and financial circumstances had forced him to transfer to Venice. The suggested time range of activity for the workshop differs, from the tightest being 1390-1405, to a wider span of 1370s until at least 1416, but certainly no later than 1433.
They employed 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.
Bibliographic references
  • 'Salting Bequest (A. 70 to A. 1029-1910) / Murray Bequest (A. 1030 to A. 1096-1910)'. In: List of Works of Art Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (Department of Architecture and Sculpture). London: Printed under the Authority of his Majesty's Stationery Office, by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Limited, East Harding Street, EC, p. 164
  • Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, p. 64
  • Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014 part II, pp. 772-773
  • Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014, part II, pp. 772-773, cat. no. 256
Collection
Accession number
A.1081-1910

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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