Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 2 registers, 3 arches across, bands of rosettes (frise d'arcatures; décor de roses); reused as part of a reliquary (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: Crucifixion; swooning Virgin supported by Holy Women; saint John the Evangelist and onlookers.
Register 2: Nativity (Virgo lactans) and Annunciation to the Shepherds.
Wing, right
Register 1: Coronation of the Virgin; angels swinging censers; two kneeling angels holding candlesticks.
Register 2: Adoration of the Magi.
Pointed trefoils.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive later gilding and polychromy: gold (hair, beards, along the hems, cushion, rosettes, architectural details, etc.), red (lips, lining of garments, architectural details), blue (lining of garments, architectural details).

Reverse
Flat and smooth. Possibly traces of raised borders which have been filed (?). Some scratches. Inscriptions: 'N. 13'; '6'; '22'. Blue and white label with ink inscription: 'Inventario No. 13'.

Comments
The inscriptions on the pieces of parchment enclosed in the small compartments refer to various relics (from left to right): ' De statue domini', 'Marie Magdalene'/ 's. joh[ann]is baptiste', 's. xpistofori m[arti]r'/[...]/ 'Lapide s[ancti] Stepp[han]i', 's[anct]e Matie (?)'/'a[n]g[e]lus [...] Calvari', 'S[ancte]' Katherine v[er]gi[n]e'/[...].

Provenance
Collection of Niccolò Perotti (b. 1429, d. 1480): his gift to the community of Sassoferrato in 1472.

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