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Gabled triptych (tabernacle) (Front)

Gabled triptych (tabernacle) (Front)
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Front

Subject
Religious. Infancy of Christ.

Repository Institution
www.english-heritage.org.uk

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London, The Wernher Collection, Ranger's House (English Heritage)

88259346 (EE263)

Ivory;metal (hinges)

Height: 182mm
Width: 140mm (open)
Depth: 14mm (centre) and 5mm (wings)

Wing, left
Register 1: Annunciation.
Register 2: Adoring Magi (part of Adoration of the Magi continued on centre panel).
Centre panel
Standing Virgin and Child; angel crowning the Virgin.
Wing, right
Register 1: Nativity.
Register 2: Presentation in the Temple; Christ standing on the altar between the Virgin and Simeon.


Koechlin Number: 0130

Koechlin 1924: France, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Williamson 2002: probably Eastern France, c. 1350-1370.
Museum's opinion 2009: Eastern France (Champagne or Lorraine?), c. 1320-1340.


Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two sets of two hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of gilding (crowns, hems) and polychromy: red and green (especially on garments); faint traces of a painted architectural design (trefoil arch) on the back of the wings.

Reverse
Flat and smooth. The back of the centre panel is chamfered along all edges except the lower edge. Traces of a painted architectural design (trefoil arch) on the back of the wings.
White and blue label with the inscription: 'Collection Wernher no. 263'.

Object Condition
Missing: border of foliated crockets along the central gable. Different ivory pieces form the top of the gables. Repair to the base of the centre panel. Hole in the underside.

Provenance
Collection of Sir Julius Wernher (d. 1912), Bath House, London; on loan to English Heritage and displayed at Ranger's House since 2002.

Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 124; II, no. 130.
P. Williamson, 'Medieval Ivory Carvings in the Wernher Collection', in Apollo (May 2002), pp. 17-22 (p. 18, fig. 2).
J. Lowden, Medieval and Later Ivories in the Courtauld Gallery (London, 2013), pp. 53-56, fig. 31, in relation to no. 5.


Image

© The Wernher Foundation. Source: English Heritage Photo Library.

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