Gothic Ivories Project | Gabled triptych, 2 registers (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: Carrying of the Cross; soldier holding a sword; spear; ladder.
Register 2: Flagellation; whips.
Centre panel
Register 1: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist; Longinus standing in prayer; Stephaton giving Christ vinegar; sun and moon.
Register 2: Deposition with the Virgin holding Christ's hand; Joseph of Arimathea holding Christ's body; man with pincers removing the nail from Christ's feet; angels holding the sun and moon.
Wing, right
Register 1: Harrowing of Hell with Adam and Eve coming out of the Mouth of Hell.
Register 2: Entombment with Holy Women; angels swinging censers.

Attribution
Soissons group (Atelier du Diptyque de Soissons)(Randall 1993)

Hinges
Two hinges on either side.

Reverse
Flat and smooth.

Object Condition
Some parts of the triptych appear to be unfinished: the slight inner projection on either side of the centre panel seems to indicate that colonnettes were originally intended (Randall 1993). The damage on this piece may indicate that it was buried, the left wing has an area of disintegration.
Missing: upper part of the gable of the central panel.
Two holes in the base of the central panel for mounting.

Comments
Randall (1993) suggests that this piece, made in bone and unfinished, may have been a workshop model.

Provenance
Collection of John Davis Hatch, Jr., Lenox (Mass.): gift of John Davis Hatch, Jr. in 1978.

Bibliography
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Ivory Carvings in North American Collections (New York, 1993), no. 37.

© Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Photography: Jim Gipe - Pivot Media and Stephen Petegorsky.
Credit Line: 78.2.3 Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, Gift of John Davis Hatch V.

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