Apollo Advent Calendar: Day 4

Apollo is counting down to Christmas by celebrating some of the greatest acquisitions, gifts and bequests of 2013. We’ll take a closer look each day at one of the outstanding objects, works of art or collections shortlisted for the Apollo Awards Acquisition of the Year.

Musée de Cluny, Paris
Plaque depicting the 12 tribes of Israel, mid 12th century
Northern France
Ivory, 19.2×13.1×0.5cm
Acquired with Fonds de patrimoine

Carved from a single piece of elephant ivory, this tiered relief depicts the 12 tribes of Israel – a subject usually treated in larger sculptures. It dates from the middle of the 12th century, and its small scale is beyond compare – there are no other known ivories like it, and scholars have yet to establish where it was made, and for what purpose. Classed a Trésor national, it is a superlative addition to Cluny’s impressive holdings of ivories. The museum has 300 pieces dating from late antiquity to the Middle Ages, forming one of the principal collections in Paris, rivalled only by the Louvre.