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Diptych, 1 register, 1 arch across, band of rosettes (plaquettes; décor de roses) (Front)

Diptych, 1 register, 1 arch across, band of rosettes (plaquettes; décor de roses) (Front)
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Front

Wing, left

Wing, right

Subject
Religious.

Repository Institution
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Toronto, The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)

107355

Ivory;metal (modern hinge)

Height: 182mm
Width: 133mm (closed), 268mm (open)
Depth: 38mm (closed), 18mm (open)
Weight: 1181g

Wing, left
Nativity and Annunciation to the shepherds; sheep; musician shepherd playing the bagpipes.
Symbols of the Evangelists with scrolls in the spandrels; saint Matthew writing, with his symbol, the angel; saint Mark writing, with his symbol, the lion.
Angels holding crowns in the voussoirs.
Wing, right
Register 1: Last Judgement with Resurrection of the Dead (Christ in Glory with his feet on a city, possibly Jerusalem); angels holding Instruments of the Passion (nails, spear; rugged cross); Virgin Mary and saint John the Baptist kneeling in prayer.
Register 2: angels blowing trumpets; souls rising from their tombs; souls of the blessed received in heaven by angels; souls of the damned thrown into the mouth of Hell; souls including kings, queens, monks, bishops; demons.
Symbols of the Evangelists with scrolls in the spandrels; saint John writing, with his symbol, the eagle; saint Luke writing, with his symbol, the calf.
Angels praying in the voussoirs.

Koechlin 1924: France, 19th century.
Lowden 2008: Paris, c. 1300. Radiocarbon dating produced a date of 900+- 30 years BP (test A), i.e. a 95% probability of a date for the ivory within the range 1030 and 1220, or of 880 +- 25 BP (test B), i.e. between 1046 and 1219.
Museum's opinion 2008: France (Paris), c. 1300.


Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
The three original hinges have been replaced by a continuous rod with flanges and pins.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of polychromy and gilding: red and green on the angels' canopies, gold on hair and wings.

Reverse
Flat and smooth.

Object Condition
Missing: ivory crown of thorns of Christ (one thorn remaining and drill holes). In excellent condition.

Provenance
Said to have been in the Leven and Essingen collections, Cologne (unconfirmed). Drouot, Paris, 17 October 2005, lot 104. Renaud-Giquello, Paris: sold, Paris, 18 October 2005, lot 104. Thomson collection, Toronto: acquired from Sam Fogg, London, in 2006; since 2008, The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto.

Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 283 n. 2.
J. Cherry, J. Lowden, Medieval Ivories and Works of Art: The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, 2008), cat. 28.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), p. 234, in relation to no. 73 and 75.


Image

The Thomson Collection © 2010, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

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