Box with Ivory Plaques

This Romanesque piece, the oldest in the Bagatti Valsecchi collection, has a distinguished provenance, as recorded on a small plaque contained within the box. Resurfacing first in the collection of the abbot don Carlo Trivulzio (founder of the Trivulziana Library) in 1757, it passed into the collection of Caterina Trivulzio Belgioioso who gave it to her daughter, Maria, on the occasion of her marriage (1861) to Ludovico Trotti Bentivoglio, after which it passed into the Baslini collection, where it was noted up until 1886. The selfsame Abbot Trivulzio, an erudite scholar of liturgy and sacred iconography, provided the first interpretation of the scenes: in the top register a bishop blessing a deacon holding open to the bishop the book of the Gospels, in the second scene the incensing of the closed book of the Gospels, in the third the acolytes carrying the Host and Holy Wine to the altar, and in the fourth, according to Trivulzio, a lay woman bringing gifts to the altar accompanied by music, though a closer observation of the scene probably reveals the young David with his harp and Mary Magdalene carrying the container of ointment for the feet of the Lord, perhaps indicative of the devotional preferences of the patrons. The scenes are encased within a decorative zig-zag frame interrupted at the top by the figure of a helmeted warrior and at the bottom by a woman in a crown and costly robes that cover her hands, perhaps indicating the patrons of the box observing the scenes of the Mass and the saints depicted between them. The two short ends of the box are decorated with zig-zags, while the bottom, in copper, is decorated with diamond shapes containing small crosses. Perhaps originally intended to hold writing instruments, the long rectangular ivory box probably was purchased by the brothers Fausto and Giuseppe prior to the 1888 dispersion of the Baslini collection, as it does not feature in the sales catalogue. It is still displayed--as are all other objects in the museum--in its original place, thus contributing to the authentic "time capsule" ambiance.