Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 7290
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Smith , Susan L.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Gothic Mirror and the Female Gaze [The author explores the representations of couple on carved ivory mirror cases. Smith argues that in the majority of cases, the depicted female gaze is responsive to that of men with the male lover taking an active role. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Saints, Sinners, and Sisters: Gender and Northern Art in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.  Edited by Jane L. Carroll and Alison G. Stewart.  Ashgate, 2003.  Pages 73 - 93.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- Decorative Arts Gaze Ivories Love in Art Mirrors Sexuality in Art Women in Art
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area:
  • Century:
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Seven figures. Figure One "The Gift of a Comb," ivory mirror valve, North Italian, first half of the fourteenth century (Baltimore, Walters Art Museum). A young man presents an ivory comb to a young woman. Figure Two "The Crowning of the Lover," ivory mirror valve, French, first quarter of the fourteenth century (Baltimore, Walters Art Museum). Figure Three "The Assault on the Castle of Love," ivory mirror valve, French, 1320-1340 (Baltimore, Walters Art Museum). Figure Four Manuscript illumination, "Storming of the Castle from the Romance of the Rose," French, fifteenth century (Valencia, Biblioteca Universidad MS. 137, fol. 146v.). Figure Five "Lovers and Falcon," ivory mirror valve, French, fourteenth century (London, British Museum, I.C.I. 106). Figure Six "The Amorous Hunt," ivory mirror valve, French, first half of the fourteenth century (Baltimore, Walters Art Museum). Figure Seven "The Amorous Hunt," ivory mirror valve, French, first half of the fourteenth century (London, Victoria and Albert Museum).
  • Table:
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of California, San Diego
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2003.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0754605892