Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 2 pages
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
This writing tablet has a depression for wax on the underside, but the lid that protected the wax is missing. Legends about wily women making fools of intelligent men from classical times were very popular in the late Middle Ages. The relief on this writing tablet contains two such episodes. In the upper register, the Roman writer Virgil, who thought that he was being drawn up in a basket for a secret rendezvous with a beautiful woman, was left suspended in midair for all to laugh at. Below, on the left, Alexander asks his lover Campaspe (also known as Phyllis) to ensnare the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Her success is depicted on the right.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
26467
label
Writing Tablet with Scenes from the Lives of Virgil and Aristotle
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
26467
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Writing Tablet with Scenes from the Lives of Virgil and Aristotle
description
This writing tablet has a depression for wax on the underside, but the lid that protected the wax is missing. Legends about wily women making fools of intelligent men from classical times were very popular in the late Middle Ages. The relief on this writing tablet contains two such episodes. In the upper register, the Roman writer Virgil, who thought that he was being drawn up in a basket for a secret rendezvous with a beautiful woman, was left suspended in midair for all to laugh at. Below, on the left, Alexander asks his lover Campaspe (also known as Phyllis) to ensnare the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Her success is depicted on the right.
provenance
John Lumsden Propert, London [1834-1902]; Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, London; Thomas Gibson-Carmichael Sale, London, May 12, 1902, no. 2; H. Wareham Harding, New York; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1340-1360 (Medieval)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Ivory & Bone
tablets
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
9.5
height
5.2
depth
0.6
dimensionsRaw
3 3/4 x 2 1/16 x 3/16 in. (9.5 x 5.2 x 0.6 cm)
Source extras
cul
French
style
Gothic
med
ivory
creator_ids
6229
collection_ids
MED
exhibition_ids
2064
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
71aa825eb36cbd4f
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
0c6bfab435861476
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no