Gothic Ivories Project | Triptych, 1 register, 1 and 3 arches across (frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Wing, left
Saint Clare as a nun holding a book.
Centre panel
Seated Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse); two standing angels holding candlesticks; two angels holding navettes and swinging censers.
Wing, right
Saint Francis of Assisi displaying his stigmata.
Pinnacles. Brickwork or tiled roof.

Koechlin 1924: France, 2nd half of the 14th century.
von Philippowich 1961: France, c. 1340.
Liebgott 1985: Paris, c. 1340.
Martini and Rizzardi 1990: Germany, Lower Rhineland (Cologne?), c. 1330.
Detroit 1997: German (Cologne), mid-14th century.
Paris 1981: Eastern France (Lorraine).
Paris 1998: Cologne (?), after 1st quarter of the 14th century.
Museum's opinion 2013: Paris, c. 1340.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive gilding and polychromy: gold (patterned background, pinnacles, clothes, crowns).Extensive traces of : red (clothing and tiled roof), green (Virgin's cloak), black (saint Clare's coif), blue (background).

Object Condition
Missing: sceptre (or flower) in the Virgin's right hand; candles in the candlesticks held by the angels.

Provenance
Registered in the inventories of the Gottorf Kunstkammer of 1710, 1725 and 1743 and later obtained by the Royal Kunstkammer in 1775; recorded in the inventory of Det kgl. Kunstmuseum (the Royal Danish Art Museum, 1825-1867) of 1825, and in the inventory of Museet for Nordiske Oldsager (Museum of Northern Antiquities, 1819-1892) of 1848.

Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), pp. 118, 202, 208, 263; II, no. 565.
E. von Philippowich, Elfenbein (Brunswick, 1961), p. 65, fig. 50.
Les Fastes du Gothique: le siècle de Charles V, ed. by F. Baron, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1981, p. 170 (in relation to no. 121).
N. K. Liebgott, Elfenben - fra Danmarks Middelalder (Copenhagen, 1985), pp. 54-55, no. 50.
Avori bizantini e medievali nel museo nazionale di Ravenna, ed. by L. Martini and C. Rizzardi (Ravenna, 1990), p. 46, fig. 19.
Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. by Peter Barnet, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, p. 84, fig. VI-5.
L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1998, p. 170 (in relation to no. 106).
Franziskus - Licht aus Assisi, exhibition catalogue, Paderborn, Erzbischöflichen Diözesanmuseum and Franziskanerkloster, 9 December 2011-6 May 2012, p. 273.

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