{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O106938"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O106938/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GD4561/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GD4561/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GD4561","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AD3446","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GD4562","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O106938/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O106938","accessionNumber":"A.68-1925","objectType":"Panel","titles":[{"title":"Martyrdom of St Thomas","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This panel in ivory was made in Cologne in about 1360-1380. It was used as the cover for a set of writing tablets depicting the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket of Canterbury. This is one of several ivories shwoing Becket's martyrdom, although it is the only one on which it is the sole subject depicted.\r\nIvory covers for writing tablets survive in good numbers from the fourteenth century. Wax writing tablets or panels of a hard material filled with layers of wax that could be inscribed with a stylus, were common in Antiquity and continued in use throughout the early Middle Ages. They were particularly useful for note taking, given their portability and the fact that their surfaces could be erased and reused.\r\nThe majority of such tablets would have been made of wood, although other materials such as gold, silver, bone and ivory were also used. In most cases the tablets formed part of a group of up to eight panels, only the covers of which were carved with imagery on their outer faces. The imagery on most surviving tablets and boxes derives primarily from diptychs, with a quality of carving lower than that commonly found on diptychs, at least partly as a result of the thinner ivory material on the tablets. \r\n","physicalDescription":"Carved ivory relief used as the cover for a set of writing tablets depicting the martyrdom of St Thomas of Canterbury. Thomas, kneeling before the altar, is attacked by three armed knights from the left. They wear chain mail with belted tunics, and frontal greaves strapped over their mail, and carry large triangular shields. Two of the figures prominently display ailettes on their shoulders. Becket having removed his mitre and placed it on the floor, kneels praying, while behind the altar stands the tonsured figure of the chaplain Grim holding a processional cross. The first two knights raise their swords to strike, the central figure bringing his weapon down on the archbishop's head so violently that the blade is breaking in two. Above are three crocketed arches. The bottom left hand corner has been broken and repaired. At the top is a hole for a ring or cord to fasten the tablets together.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved ivory","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2013GD4561","2006AD3446","2013GD4562"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"015","id":"THES395362"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Panel","id":""}],[{"text":"Plaque","id":"AAT10262"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1360-1380","earliest":"1360-01-01","latest":"1380-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Mrs Cowell","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"9.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"6.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"By 1923, the panel was in posession of Mrs Mary Margaret Elizabeth Cowell (London 1923, cat. no. 122), who owned other ivories as early as the 1880s. Bequeathed by Mrs Cowell in 1925.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Plaque, carved ivory, from a set of writing tablets, depicting the martyrdom of St Thomas, France, ca. 1360-1380","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Longhurst, Margaret H. <font -u>Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory.</font> London: Published under the Authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929, Part I, p. 17"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Borenius, T. <font -u>St. Thomas Becket in art.</font> London, 1932, p. 82, pl. XXXI/2"},{"reference":{"text":"Koechlin, R., <u>Les Ivoires gothiques français</u>, 3 vols, Paris, 1924 (reprinted Paris 1968)","id":"AUTH332728"},"details":"I, p. 217, note 1","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550</u>, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014","id":"AUTH332632"},"details":"part 1, pp. 364-365","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550</u>, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014, part 1, pp. 364-365, cat. no. 126"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Becket, Thomas (Saint)","id":"N37"},{"text":"Grim, Edward","id":"N4428"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Martyrdom of Thomas Becket","id":"V367"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"sword","id":"AAT37048"},{"text":"shields","id":"x31101"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.68-1925"],"accessionNumberNum":"68","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1925,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-24","recordCreationDate":"2004-11-01","availableToBook":true}}