Crucifixion with the Virgin raising her hands and saint John the Evangelist; two angels.
Medallions enclosing quatrefoils in the spandrels. Pinnacles.
Koechlin 1924: France, end of the 1st quarter of the 14th century.
Randall 1993: North French (?), 1320-1340.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
A slot, now filled with ivory, indicates it was used as a pax.
Object Condition
Missing: left hand of left angel; cracks at centre and upper right corner; abrasions on all four sides and back.
Trefoil stain at centre of arch, perhaps from a missing decorative element. Circular stains found within the two-quatrefoil elements may indicate missing decorative elements. The left border was probably planed down after the hinges were removed.
Comments
Suspected to be the right half of a diptych as the left border is slightly narrower than the right, indicating that it may have been planed down after the hinges were removed. The presence of a small hole on the right edge, an indication that a clasp may have been attached there, helps substantiate this theory. A slot on the back, now filled with ivory, indicates it was used later in its life as a pax.
Provenance
Swarzenski collection, Frankfurt am Main (in 1924). Bought from Mathias Komor, New York, in 1975; gift of Mrs. Thomas Matthews.
Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 201; II, no. 421bis.
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Ivory Carvings in North American Collections (New York, 1993), no. 71.
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