Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 1 register, 2 arches across (plaquettes, frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Wing, left
Saint John the Evangelist holding a martyr's palm and a book; saint John the Baptist holding the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei).
Wing, right
Saint Catherine of Alexandria with wheel and martyr's palm; Saint Margaret emerging from the dragon, holding a crucifix.

Longhurst 1929: France, 14th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: French, about 1375-1400.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two hinges (later).

Reverse
Flat and smooth. Oval label with Frésart coat of arms and handwritten inscription: 'Collection Jul. Frésart, Château de Frone'.

Object Condition
Each wing is pierced with one large hole, probably to allow its owner to hang it from a cord. Two indents in the right border of the right wing.

Provenance
Exhibited in Liège in 1881, when in the collection of Jules Frésart (d. 1900), Château de Flone (see label on the back). Hearn Collection, Menton, acquired either by Alfred Williams Hearn (b. 1842, d. 1903), Menton, by 1904, or by his widow Ellen in July 1912: given by Mrs Hearn in 1923.

Bibliography
L’Art ancien au Pays de Liège, exhibition catalogue, Liège, 1881, no. V.12.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 28, pl. XXV.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 108.

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