Mirror Case with Attack on the Castle of Love

Description The popularity of ivory luxury goods reached its height around 1350, but they were made well into the 15th century. Associated with intimacy, mirrors were often given as courting gifts. A portable mirror consisted of a case in two parts with a polished metal disk fitted inside. In this allegorical battle scene, knights attack ladies in a castle using catapults and crossbows that launch flowers. The ladies also shower their adversaries with flowers dropped from buckets. The god of love presides over all. A single knight has reached his lady by scaling the wall. This scene and those of the knights riding away may be three moments in an elopement narrative. The case originally had fantastic animals forming the four corners.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/11/1962	Treatment	cleaned
10/01/1984	Treatment	cleaned
9/11/1995	Treatment	cleaned; loss compensation

Exhibitions

• Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984-1985.
• Medieval Games of Love and War. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995-1996.
• Images in Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1997.
• Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998-2001.
• The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Academy of the Arts, Easton, Easton; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton; The Mitchell Gallery, Annapolis; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown. 2002.

Provenance Treasury of the Cistercian Abbey of Rein, Styria; Jacques Seligmann, Paris, 1928, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, December 1, 1928, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1928