{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O89523"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O89523/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2012FV7517/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2012FV7517/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2012FV7517","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FV7514","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE3918","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019ME7234","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O89523/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O89523","accessionNumber":"A.26-1958","objectType":"Relief","titles":[{"title":"Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene","type":"generic title"},{"title":"Noli Me Tangere","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"This is an ivory plaque from a set of writing tablets, depicting the Noli Me Tangere. After his resurrection Christ appeared to Mary by the empty tomb. He asked her not to touch him but to go to the disciples with the message that he had now risen. Here the scene takes place beneath elaborate canopies and in front of a screen.\r\nA remarkable feature of the plaque is the previous existence of the staff or spade once held by Christ: this was a separate piece, which was fixed to the ivory by a hole under Christ's left hand, and another at the lower edge of the canopy above him. Then the piece slotted into a further hole at the base of the tree. An addition of this sort seems highly impractical for an object of such use as a writing tablet. Also remarkable is the gesture of Christ: he gathers up his mantle, leaning towards the Magdalene, while normally in such scenes he would make a characteristic dismissive gesture. The most striking aspect of the plaque is the use of an extremely elaborate and dense architectural backdrop for what is ostensibly an outdoor scene. \r\n\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":"The plaque depicts the Noli me tangereBeneath a flamboyant Gothic canopy and in front of a screen Christ appears on the right before the kneeling St. Mary Magdalene on the left, between them a small stylised tree. His shrinking attitude implies the words \"noli me tangere\". Christ is dressed in a tunic and a cloak; he is long-haired and bearded; his right hand clutches a fold of the cloak, his left probably held a staff or a spade (now missing).","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Elephant ivory","categories":[{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Reliefs","id":"THES49035"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2012FV7517","2012FV7514","2006AE3918","2019ME7234"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"111","id":"THES49918"},"free":"","case":"DU1","shelf":"DR9","box":"9"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Relief","id":""}],[{"text":"Plaque","id":"AAT10262"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably Franco-Flemish"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1390-1410","earliest":"1390-01-01","latest":"1410-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"8.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"5.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"In 1896, the plaque was displayed by its owner  Mr. Stamley Leighton, Sweeney Hall, Oswestry, at the loan exhibition of Ecclesiastical Art in Shrewsbury. Leighton supplied inofrmation about its provenance: \r\nThe relief belonged formerly to M. Vocham, Curate of the Convent of St. Ursula at Cologne (this can only be Gerhard Kunibert Fochem (1771-1847), who from 1831 was the rector of the parish church of Saint Ursula in Cologne. \r\nThen the plaque belonged to art dealer M. van Perys of Brussels, and then to Mr. Dean William Tuck, dealer in curiosities, Leicester Square, London. The relief was then bought in 1834 by the Rev. John Parker and later acquired by Mr. Stamley Leighton, Sweeney Hall, Oswestry.\nBought by the Museum from Mrs. Parker Leighton, for £50, in 1958.\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Plaque, ivory, from a set of writing tablets, Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene (Noli me tangere), probably Franco-Flemish, ca. 1390-1410","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Beckwith, J., ‘A Rhenish ivory Noli Me Tangere’, in: <u>Victoria and Albert Museum Bulletin</u>, II, 1966, p. 112-16"},{"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, 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. 384-387","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, 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. 384-387, cat. no. 135"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Jesus","id":"N1515"},{"text":"Mary Magdalene (Saint)","id":"N482"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"tree","id":"x37637"},{"text":"buildings","id":"AAT4792"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.26-1958"],"accessionNumberNum":"26","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1958,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN6505","2019LP5349","2019LV5683"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-23","recordCreationDate":"2004-01-15","availableToBook":false}}