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Polyptych, 5 registers (wings), 4 registers (centre panel) (tabernacle) (Back)

Polyptych, 5 registers (wings), 4 registers (centre panel) (tabernacle) (Back)
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Side


Side

Side

Bottom

Front, open

Closed

Front, open

Detail

Detail

Detail

Front (open)

Subject
Religious. Life of the Virgin.

Repository Institution
www.landesmuseum.de

To purchase an image
www.landesmuseum.de


Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum

Inv. 95/879

Ivory;wood;horn;metal (fittings);paper (behind the tracery in the canopy)

Height: 718mm (total)
Width: 155mm (closed); 325mm (open)
Depth: 111mm; 10mm (wings)
Weight: 2600g (total)

Wings, left
Register 1: musician angel playing the triangle; Annunciation to Joseph of the birth of Christ; birth of the Virgin; midwife bathing the Virgin.
Register 2: musician angel playing the psaltery; Joachim in the wilderness with his shepherds; Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple.
Register 3: angel blowing a trumpet; annunciation of the birth of the Virgin to Joachim by an angel; Virgin weaving with angel.
Register 4: musician angel (string instrument); annunciation of the birth of the Virgin Mary to Anna by an angel; Joseph and the flowering rod.
Register 5: musician angel (string instrument); meeting of Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate; Betrothal of Joseph and the Virgin.
Centre panel
Standing Virgin and Child.Musician angels (flute; rebec; triangle; lute; harp; psaltery; drum).
Wings, right
Register 1: Annunciation; dove of the Holy Spirit; Nativity; angel blowing a trumpet.
Register 2: Visitation; Annunciation to the Shepherds; angel blowing a trumpet.
Register 3: Virgin Mary and Joseph; Adoration of the Shepherds (?); angel blowing a trumpet.
Register 4: Annunciation to Joseph of the birth of Christ; Adoration of the Magi; angel blowing a trumpet.
Register 5: Virgin and Joseph (?); Presentation in the Temple; angel blowing a trumpet.
Crosshatched background.


Koechlin Number: 0948

Bruges 2010: Flanders (?), 2nd half of the 15th century.
Egbert 1929: Italy, end of 15th century.
von Philippovich 1961: Northern Italy, c. 1440.
Karlsruhe 1999: North Netherlandish (Utrecht?), mid 15th century.


Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Twelve metal hinges.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of the original partial gilding and polychromy: gold (along the hems, hair, etc.); azurite blue (Virgin's robe); green lake (grounds, trees), matt rose made by white mixed with a red lake (some garments).

Reverse
Intarsia forming geometric patterns in ivory tinted green, non-tinted ivory and wood.

Object Condition
Canopy and base decorated with ivory plaques (around 1800?). The second panel from the left on the upper register seems to have been modeled after the scene of the Annunciation to Joseph of the birth of Christ to the right and is a later restoration. Three more scenes have also been restored.

Provenance
Collection of the Grand Duke of Baden (since 1857, in 1929). Acquired by the Museum from Sotheby's, Die Sammlung der Markgrafen und Grossherzöge von Baden, Baden-Baden, 5-21 October 1995, vol. II, lot 253.

Bibliography
C. L. Frommel, Inventarium über die in dem Atelier des Galleriedirectors Frommel befindliche Elfenbeinsammlung (Karlsruhe, 1854 (handwritten); appendix 1857, no. 26.
G. Katchel and M. Rosenberg, Katalog der Badischen Kunst- und Kunstgewerbe-Ausstellung zur Feier der silbernen Hochzeit Ihrer königlichen Hoheiten des Grossherzogs und der Grossherzogin, part 2 (Karlsruhe, 1881), no. 632.
M. Rosenberg, Alte Kunstgewerbliche Arbeiten aus der Badischen Kunst- und Kunstgewerbe-Ausstellung zu Karlsruhe 1881 (Frankfurt, 1882), with ill.
K. Koelitz, Beschreibendes Inventar (Katalog) der Allerhöchsten Privatsammlung kunstgewerblicher Gegenstände (Zähringer Museum), aufgestellt in den Räumen des ehemaligen Großherzoglichen Naturalienkabinetts (Karlsruhe, 1883 (handwritten), no. 2495.
M. Rosenberg, 'Die Kunstkammer im großherzoglichen Residenzschloß zu Karlsruhe', in Festgabe zum Jubiläum der vierzigjährigen Regierung seiner Königlichen Hoheit des Grossherzogs Friedrich von Baden in Ehrfurcht dargebracht von der technischen Hochschule in Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, 1892), p. 301, pl. 2ff.
W. F. Volbach, Die Bildwerke des Deutschen Museums, Die Elfenbeinbildwerke (Berlin, 1923), p. 55.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 339, II, no. 948.
D. D. Egbert, 'North Italian Gothic Ivories in the Museo Cristiano of the Vatican Library', in Art Studies 7 (1929), p. 195, fig. 47.
C. R. Morey, Gli oggetti di avorio e di osso del Museo Vaticano (Vatican City, 1936), I, pp. 87ff.
Meisterwerke der Markgräflichen Badischen Sammlungen im Neuen Schloß, ed. by W. G von Kalnein, exhibition catalogue, Zähringer Museum Baden-Baden, 1960, no. 14.
E. von Philippovich, Elfenbein (Brunswick, 1961), pp. 77-78, fig. 60.
Meisterwerke der Plastik aus Privatsammlungen im Bodenseegebeit, exhibition catalogue, Künsterhaus Bregenz (Palais Thurn und Taxis), 1967, no. 89.
R. Krüger, Kleine Welt in Elfenbein (Dresden, 1967), p. 16.
L. Mallé, Smalti-Avori. Museo d'Arte Antica (Turin, 1969), p. 313.
E. von Philippovich, Elfenbein (Munich, 1982, 2nd ed.), p. 150.
R. Conti, Il Tesoro. Guida alla conoscenza del Tesoro del Duomo di Monza (Monza, 1983, 2nd ed.), no. 49.
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Ivory Carvings in North American Collections (New York, 1993), in relation to no. 35.
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, in reference to no. 73.
Mittelalterliche Elfenbeinarbeiten aus der Sammlung des Badischen Landesmuseums Karlsruhe, ed. by K.-G. Beuckers (Karlsruhe, 1999), no. 11.
D. Eberle, Die Gruppe gotischer Turmschreine um die Mailänder Marienaltärchen aus Elfenbein (unpublished Master dissertation, Karlsruhe, 2000), no. 3 pp. 50-52 , figs. 29-34.
S. Vandenberghe, Ivory in Bruges: Treasures from museums, churches and monasteries, exhibition catalogue, Bruges, 2010, pp. 20-23.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 175.


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