{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O88473"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88473/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GD3858/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GD3858/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GD3858","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF0052","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GD3860","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GD3861","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GD3862","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GD3863","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GD3864","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GD3865","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GD3866","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GE2191","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GE2192","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GE2193","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GE2194","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GE2195","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GE2196","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KB2001","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O88473/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O88473","accessionNumber":"372-1892","objectType":"Group","titles":[{"title":" The Virgin Supported by the Three Maries and Saint John","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is an ivory group representing the Virgin Supported by the Three Maries and Saint John, made in the South Netherlands, probably Tournai, in about 1450-1470. The group must have originally have formed part of an extended scene of the Crucifixion, to the left of the Cross, and probably formed part of a grand house altar, with wings. A fifteenth century altarpiece of this type, with several ivory groups and a Crucifixion, must have been of great rarity and extremely costly, and this is the only fragment from such an ensemble known. \n\nIvory was used all over Europe for religious works of art. It was often combined with precious metals and usually took the form of relief panels, for book covers, portable altars and caskets. An almost unbroken tradition of ivory carving extends from the Roman and Byzantine empires until the end of the 14th century. From about 1250, Paris became the centre of production for figures and reliefs intended for private devotion. \nThis piece was probalby made in Tournai, in South Netherlands in ca. 1450-1470. It was probably originally part of an extended scene of the Crucifixion, to the left of the Cross, porbably as part of a grand house altar, with wings. ","physicalDescription":"The fainting Virgin is shown in a long belted gown at the front of the group, her arms supproted by two of the flanking figures. These three principal figures have lost their heads, but that on the left, barefooted, must have represented St John the Evangelist. Two furtyher Holy Women, bothj with velied heads, look on behind. The figures stand on a plain platform with a simple moulding. The back in largely uncarved, being partiallly blocked-out but flat, indicating that the relief was set against a separate background and the reverse not designed to be seen. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Elephant ivory","categories":[{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2013GD3858","2006AF0052","2013GD3860","2013GD3861","2013GD3862","2013GD3863","2013GD3864","2013GD3865","2013GD3866","2013GE2191","2013GE2192","2013GE2193","2013GE2194","2013GE2195","2013GE2196","2017KB2001"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"111","id":"THES49918"},"free":"","case":"CA008","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"TCRPS","id":"THES49504"},"free":"","case":"1","shelf":"1","box":"tray 2"},{"current":{"text":"TCRPS","id":"THES49504"},"free":"","case":"1","shelf":"1","box":"tray 2"},{"current":{"text":"TCRPS","id":"THES49504"},"free":"","case":"1","shelf":"1","box":"tray 2"},{"current":{"text":"TCRPS","id":"THES49504"},"free":"","case":"1","shelf":"1","box":"tray 2"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Group","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragments","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Tournai","id":"x30946"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1450-1470","earliest":"1445-01-01","latest":"1470-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"9.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"7.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Mrs Annie Morgan, London, in 1892 (£7); previous history not known.\r\nOn acquisition the group appeared to be complete, and all five heads were shown in the publication of Maskell and Koechlin. The three heads were removed when Koechlin's book must have been in the press. He condemned them as 'maladroitement refaites' and observed that the head of St John had been incorrectly restored as that of a Holy Woman. The three heads are kept in storage and pace Koechlin's comments do in fact capture the stylistic features of the originals: they must be the work of a talented restorer, probably of the mid-nineteenth century. The group must origianlly have formed part of an extended scene of the Crucifixion, to the left of the Cross.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Group, ivory, The Virgin Supported by the Three Maries and Saint John, South Netherlandish (Tournai?), ca. 1450-1470","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>List of Objects in the Art Division South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1892. Arranged according to the dates of acquisition, with appendix and indices.</u> London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1893, p. 50"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Longhurst, Margaret, H. <u>Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory.</u> II. London: The Board of Education, 1929, p.42"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Koechlin, R in Michel <u>Histoire de l'Art.</u> II. Pt. 1. 1905, p. 499"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Koechlin. <u>Les Ivoires Gothiques Français</u>. I pp. 347, 348, 350; II, No. 974. III. Pl. CLXX"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Maskell, A. <u>Ivories.</u> Connoisseurs Library. 1905, pl. XL"},{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, Part 1</u>, V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014","id":"AUTH332632"},"details":"part 1, pp. 130-132","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, Part 1</u>, V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014, part 1, pp. 130-132, cat. no. 40"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Mary (Virgin Mary)","id":"N480"},{"text":"John (Saint John the Baptist)","id":"N450"},{"text":"St John the Evangelist","id":"N935"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["372:1-1892","372:5-1892","372:4-1892","372:3-1892","372:2-1892"],"accessionNumberNum":"372","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1892,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Group","Fragments","Fragment [1]","Fragment [2]","Fragment [3]"],"assets":["2019LV6171"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-10-09","recordCreationDate":"2004-01-06","availableToBook":false}}