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Source Description
During the Middle Ages, paper and parchment were expensive, and many people took advantage of less permanent forms of written communication. One side of an ivory tablet was coated with wax; then a message was incised in the wax with a stylus (which looks like a large pin) and protected by an ivory lid. The little box would be sent to the recipient, who smoothed the wax and responded.The sliding cover depicts three ladies in the town, looking over its walls at two embracing couples seen to the left. The bottom of the box shows the same town at greater distance, a tent with two more lovers, a hawking expedition, and a hermit reading outside his rustic cell. Several writing boxes are known from the same, otherwise unidentified workshop.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
9704
label
Writing Tablet and Lid
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
8
Source metadata
id
9704
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Writing Tablet and Lid
description
During the Middle Ages, paper and parchment were expensive, and many people took advantage of less permanent forms of written communication. One side of an ivory tablet was coated with wax; then a message was incised in the wax with a stylus (which looks like a large pin) and protected by an ivory lid. The little box would be sent to the recipient, who smoothed the wax and responded.The sliding cover depicts three ladies in the town, looking over its walls at two embracing couples seen to the left. The bottom of the box shows the same town at greater distance, a tent with two more lovers, a hawking expedition, and a hermit reading outside his rustic cell. Several writing boxes are known from the same, otherwise unidentified workshop.
provenance
Sale, Cologne, December 14, 1893, no. 92; Marcus Antocolsky, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Marcus Antocolsky Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, June 10, 1901, no. 73; George Robinson Harding, London [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, June 15, 1901, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1340-1360 (Medieval)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Ivory & Bone
tablets
imageCount
8
pageCount
8
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
9.3
height
5.4
depth
1.1
dimensionsRaw
H: 3 11/16 x W: 2 1/8 x D of tablet and lid together: 7/16 in. (9.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 cm)
Source extras
cul
French
style
Gothic
RelatedObjects
30473
32234
med
ivory
creator_ids
6476
collection_ids
MED
exhibition_ids
961
2049
2064
2932
Page inventory
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1
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photo
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df17c6b7b55c817c
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no
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photo
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606581de8e90acc6
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type
photo
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a3931a9971c12ca2
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no
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type
photo
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no
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type
photo
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photo
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no
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type
photo
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no
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no
seq
8
type
photo
mediaId
07592fadfd455107
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no
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no