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Box Panel with Lovers Exchanging Gifts

Anonymous (Flemish) (?)

Anonymous (Burgundian) (?)

1410-1420 (Medieval)

ivory

H: 2 3/16 x W: 9 1/16 in. (5.6 x 23 cm)

Description
Four couples in lavish court costume are placed beneath ogee arches supported by colonnettes. From left to right, the couples exchange a ring, a pet squirrel, a flower, and a bunch of hearts. The background is lightly crosshatched.

On the rear of the panel the date "1417" is written in Arabic numerals. A poem is written in a 16th-century hand in two lines, divided in the center by a configuration which may be the capital letter I or H. The poem reads:

Dear lady I love you loyally
And pray God that you not forget me
And I place myself at your command
Without evil intent and without folly.

The date and inscription are 16th-century additions.

There is a large series of holes for the original mounts, some of which have been filled with plaster. A break and chip occur on the right end.
Additional Information

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1925

71.204

Not on view

[Date] On the rear of the panel: 1417; [Poem] Dos Dame je vos aime leaulem[en]t/Port Die [prie] que ne mobilie mis/Et fie mon cors a vos comandens (?)/Sans moveste et sans nulle folie.; [Translation] Dear lady I love you loyally/And pray God that you not forget me/And I place myself at your command/Without evil intent and without folly.

Gothic

Burgundy, France (?)

Flanders, Belgium (?)


Provenance

Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

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