Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 2 registers, 4 arches across (frise d'arcatures, colonnettes) (Wing, left)

Diptych, 2 registers, 4 arches across (frise d'arcatures, colonnettes) (Wing, left)

Diptych, 2 registers, 4 arches across (frise d'arcatures, colonnettes) (Wing, left)

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Front

Wing, right, back

Wing, left, back

Wing, right

Links

Subject
Religious.

Repository Institution
www.vam.ac.uk

To purchase an image
www.vandaimages.com

London, Victoria and Albert Museum

A.18-1940; A.18a-1940

Ivory

Height: 140mm
Width: 79 mm (each)

Wing, left
Register 1: Presentation in the Temple; Christ standing on the altar between the Virgin and Simeon; maid holding a candlestick and a basket of doves brought as offerings; hanging lamp. Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist; rugged cross; sun and moon.
Register 2: Annunciation; vase of lilies; dove of the Holy Spirit. Visitation.
Wing, right
Register 1: Noli me Tangere (Christ appearing to saint Mary Magdalene); tree. Coronation of the Virgin.
Register 2: Nativity and Annunciation to the Shepherds; swaddled Christ; sheep. Adoration of the Magi; pointing Magus wearing a glove.
Incised trefoils in the spandrels. Beaded border.

Williamson and Davies 2014: French, probably 1350-1375. Radiocarbon dating (2011): 95.4% probability that the elephant died between 1280 and 1394.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges.

Reverse
Flat with parallel scoring. Remains of two labels.

Object Condition
The hinges miters have been repaired with ivory.
Substantial signs of use of claw chisel or other tool which has left a series of parallel striations on reverse.

Comments
A.18a-1940 is the left wing.
A.18-1940 is the right wing.

Provenance
Collection of Canon Lewis Gilbertson of Bedford Square, Rector of St Martin's Church, Ludgate Hill, London, by 1928; bequeathed by Mrs. Edith Gilbertson (d. 1940) in memory of her husband in 1940.

Bibliography
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 96.

Image

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