Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 1 register, 4 double arches across (frise d'arcatures; plaquette) (Front)

Wing, left
Crucifixion with thieves; swooning Virgin supported by Holy Women; saint John the Evangelist and onlookers; Longinus piercing Christ's side; Stephaton giving Christ vinegar; man with pincers removing the nail from Christ's feet.
Wing, right
Betrayal (Taking of Christ; Kiss of Judas; Arrest of Christ); Christ restores Malchus' ear, cut by saint Peter; death of Judas (Judas hanging); Carrying of the Cross; soldier with a shield with a face.
Roses (rosettes). Tracery. Beaded border.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two later hinges.

Reverse
Flat and smooth. The right wing has the longer edges slightly chamfered.

Object Condition
Repair visible on the back. Left wing more cracked than the right wing.

Comments
This piece is extremely similar to a diptych formerly in the Kofler-Truniger collection (S. 88).

Provenance
Collection of Placido de Sangro, Duke of Martina (b. 1829, d. 1891) (collection assembled in the 2nd half of the 19th century): given by his heirs to the city of Naples in 1911; housed at the Villa Floridiana since 1931.

Bibliography
A. O. Quintavalle, 'Medioevo ignorato. Avori gotici nelle pubbliche collezioni napoletane', in Crisopoli (1934), pp. 299-301, fig. 21.
Medioevo e produzione artistica di serie. Smalti di Limoges e avori gotici in Campania, ed. by P. Giusti, P. Leone de Castris, exhibition catalogue, Naples, Museo Duca di Martina, 1981, no. II.12.

All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.