Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 2 registers, 3 arches across (frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: Crucifixion; swooning Virgin supported by Holy Women; saint John the Evangelist and onlookers; sun and moon; rugged cross; Adam rising from a tomb and collecting Christ's blood in a chalice at the foot of the cross. Coronation of the Virgin; angel holding a cross.
Register 2: Annunciation; vase of lilies; dove of the Holy Spirit. Nativity and Annunciation to the Shepherds; musician shepherd playing the bagpipes; dog.
Wing, right
Register 1: Last Judgement with Resurrection of the Dead (Christ in Glory); Christ displaying his wounds; angels holding Instruments of the Passion (spear; nails; cross; crown on thorns); Virgin and saint John the Baptist kneeling; angels blowing trumpets; souls rising from their tombs (including bishop and king); souls in Heaven; souls of the damned thrown into the mouth of Hell.
Register 2: Adoration of the Magi; attendant with horses; whip.
Vine-leaf pattern on the background. Border of vine-leaf and grapes. Pointed trefoils.

Koechlin 1924: France, 1st half of the 14th century.
Randall 1993: English (?) or French (Guyenne?), 1345-1365.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of gilding (haloes).

Reverse
Flat and smooth. Minor cracks throughout.

Object Condition
Trimmed edges with later crosshatching (except the upper edge).
Missing: crown of thorns held by the angel (replaced) and right arm of the cross in the Last Judgement scene (replaced); head and hand of the angel in the Coronation scene, and cross he holds (replaced).

Comments
The Last Judgement scene is very reminiscent of monumental tympana (see Saint-Seurin in Bordeaux) (Randall 1993).

Provenance
Collection of Alfred Maudsley, England. Bought by the Museum from Durlacher Brothers, London, in 1922.

Bibliography
L. E. R., 'A Gothic Ivory', in Bulletin of the Rhode Island School of Design, XI (January 1923).
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 181, 200, 213; II, no. 348bis; III, pl. LXXX.
Bulletin of the Rhode Island School of Design XXV-2 (April 1937), p. 31.
Treasures in the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, exhibition catalogue, Providence, 1956.
Transformations of the Court Style: Gothic art in Europe, 1270 to 1330, ed. by D. Gillerman, exhibition catalogue, Providence, Rhode Island School of Design, 1977, no. 18, pp. 60-61.
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Ivory Carvings in North American Collections (New York, 1993), no. 97.

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