Saints and Censing Angel

Two female saints, one with a jar and book and the other with a bird and palm, face to the left beneath a trefoil arch. Above, an angel kneels beneath a round arch and holds a censer and incense boat.

The panel has been broken and cut to conform with the arch at the top and has broken miters for hinges on the left side. The right border has been narrowed. There are traces of polychromy, particularly in the surrounds of the lower arch.

The back of the panel shows signs of having had a clasp attached to it and there are remains of a standing bearded saint in polychrome. The head of the saint is incised into the ivory.

Although the style of the carved figures on the front is broad, with apron-style drapery, that of the painted saint on the back is elegant and elongated, normally datable to about 1250-1260. While it seems likely that the ivory was painted in a second and very conservative atelier, the fact that the head of the saint is incised into the ivory suggests it was drawn by an ivory worker.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

[London], 1862 [exhibited a the South Kensington Museum, no. 161]; John Watkins Brett, London [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; J. Brett Sale, Christie's, London, April 18, 1864, no. 2008; Octave Homberg, Paris [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Octave Homberg Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 11, 1908, no. 484; Jacques Seligmann, Paris [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1912, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.