Gothic Ivories Project | Gabled triptych, 3 registers and 2 registers, 1 arch across (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: angel holding a candlestick.
Register 2: Annunciation; vase of lilies.
Register 3: Adoring Magi (part of the Adoration of the Magi).
Centre panel
Register 1: Coronation of the Virgin; angel.
Register 2: Standing Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse); angel crowning the Virgin; two standing angels holding candlesticks.
Incised trefoils; pinnacles.
Wing, right
Register 1: angel holding a candlestick.
Register 2: Nativity with swaddled Christ Child in manger.
Register 3: Presentation in the Temple; Christ seated on the altar between the Virgin and Simeon.

Westwood 1876: France (?), 14th century.
Koechlin 1924: France, end of the 1st half of the 14th century.
Longhurst 1929: French, mid 14th century.
Williamson and Devies: French (probably Paris), c. 1300.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two ring hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of gilding and polychromy: ghost of a three-dot pattern on the background and of decoration along the hems; red (inside the Virgin's veil; architectural details).

Reverse
Back of the wings flat and smooth. Back of the centre panel smooth, with longer edges chamfered. Cloud-like patterns of ivory cement indicating ivory from outer curve of tusk just below the husk.

Object Condition
Missing: gables of the centre panel and of the wings, and crockets along the central gable (all originally made of separate pieces of ivory; crosshatching and holes remain; tongue and groove system for the wings' gables); left hand of the crowning angel.
Ivory stained a purplish brown.

Provenance
Collection of Ottavio Gigli, Florence, in 1858; purchased as part of the Gigli-Campana collection in 1861.

Bibliography
A. M. Migliarini, Museo di sculture del risorgimento raccolto e posseduto da Ottavio Gigli (Florence, 1858), p. 24, pl. XXVIII.
Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged according to the dates of their acquisition (London, 1868), I, p. 21.
W. Maskell, Ivories Ancient and Mediaeval in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1872), p. 27.
J. O. Westwood, Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), no. 479 (`73.182).
H. Semper, 'Über eine besondere Gruppe elfenbeinerner Klappaltärchen des XIV Jahrhunderts', in Zeitschrift für Christliche Kunst 11 (1898), cols. 183, 188.
A. Michel, L'histoire de l'art depuis les premiers temps chrétiens jusqu'à nos jours, 8 vols, 17 parts (Paris, 1905-1929), II, p. 478.
R. Koechlin, 'Quelques ateliers d'ivoiriers français aux XIII et XIVe siècles. II. L'atelier des tabernacles de la Vierge', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 34 (1905), pp. 453-471 (p. 454, n. 1).
R. Koechlin, Histoire de l'art depuis les premiers temps chrétiens jusqu'à nos jours, ed. by A. Michel, II (Paris, 1906), p. 478.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 3, 135, 136; II, no. 186; III, pl. XLVI.
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), pp. 14-15, pl. X.
A. H. Levine, On composite Gothic Ivory carving (London: The Courtauld Institute of Art [unpublished M.A. thesis], 2011). pp.12-13, 14, 21-24, pls 14, 21.
J. Lowden, Medieval and Later Ivories in the Courtauld Gallery (London, 2013), p. 56, in relation to no. 5.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 55.

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