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| Keywords: Italian - Mirror Case with Two Lovers - Walters 71107.jpg This mirror cover of unusual quality shows a young man offering his lady a flower The figures stand on a patch of carefully rendered turf between two trees against a crosshatched background The man wears a houppelande with large dagged-edged sleeves and a big cloth cap or chaperon The lady's gown also has pendant sleeves with elaborate facings; she wears a bourrelet on her head A band of roping surrounds the scene and two holes for attachment are visible When in the 18th century the cover and its mate were drawn by Jan Ivan Gravenbroeck for the catalogue of the collection of Pietro di Giacomo Gradenigo in Venice its corner leaf projections now lost were still intact Above the young man's head is inscribed the work PRENES the first word of a motto which is completed on the pendant mirror case in the Louvre depicting a similar couple Here the inscription reads EN GRE Taken together the two parts of the motto may be translated Take kindly The full phrase is found in a stanza of Christine de Pisan's poetry Prenez en gre le don de votre amant Take kindly the gift of your lover Because the motto was used in France and Burgundy the ivory has often been called French Flemish or Burgundian However all of the features of this example including the particular balance of the landscape elements and the figures are found more frequently in works from north Italy The crisp carving and stylized postures of the figures relate to works attributed to Milan and Lombardy where significantly the language like the motto was French The attitude of the figures facing each other in profile is that of the conventional Italian wedding portrayal of the 15th century The strict profile confrontation contrasts strongly with the interaction of the two figures in similar scenes on French mirror cases ca 1410 early Renaissance ivory D 5/16 x Diam 3 1/4 in 0 85 x 8 21 cm accession number 71 107 10459 Pietro di Giacomo Gradenigo Venice ca 1750 by purchase Jacques Seligmann Paris date of acquisition unknown by purchase Henry Walters city Baltimore Walters Art Museum Henry Walters Acquired by Henry Walters 1914 Transcription above the young man's head PRENES The International Style The Arts in Europe Around 1400 The Walters Art Gallery Baltimore 1962 The Medieval Garden Spencer Museum of Art Lawrence; Dumbarton Oaks Washington 1983 The Taste of Maryland Art Collecting in Maryland 1800-1934 The Walters Art Gallery Baltimore 1984 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 place of origin Milan Italy Walters Art Museum license Renaissance applied arts in the Walters Art Museum Italian carved ivory mirror cases in the Walters Art Museum 15th-century carved ivory mirror cases Couples in love in art Media contributed by the Walters Art Museum needs category review | ||||
