Gothic Ivories Project | Triptych, with arches (colonnettes) (Front, open)

Wing, left
Register 1: medallion enclosing a king in bust.
Augustus and the Tiburtine Sybil; vision; Virgin and Child; kneeling emperor.
Register 2: Coronation of the Virgin; sceptre; crowns.
Centre panel
Register 1: standing Virgin and Child; kneeling king; onlookers including children; angels.
Register 2: Dormition (Death of the Virgin); Virgin holding a candle; apostles. Virgin and apostles (Pentecost?).
Medallions with heads of male and female figures. Unidentified coats of arms with two pillars.
Wing, right
Register 1: medallion enclosing a queen in bust.
Register 2: medallions with heads of male and female figures. Standing bishop and unidentified male and female saint; bishop's mitre.
Register 3: Annunciation; sceptre; dove of the Holy Spirit.
Foliated borders (vine leaves; grapes); pinnacles; Flamboyant tracery; rows of arches; monsters on columns (dragons). Unidentified male apostles in niches.
Central coat of arms: variation on the arms of the Aragonese kingdom of Naples.
Inscriptions inlaid on the frame in Gothic script:
Around the left wing, starting from bottom left: 'Ave Maria Gracia plena Dominus tecum benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus'.
Around the centre panel, starting from bottom left: 'Salve Regina mater misericordiae vita dulcedo et spes nostra salve Ad te clamamus exules fillii hevae ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. [e[ia ergo avocata nostra illos tuos misericordes oculos as nos converte. Et Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens O pia O dulcis Virgo Maria Ora pro nobis Sancta Dei genitrix ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.'
Around the right wing, starting from bottom left: 'Sancta Maria mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc et in hora mortis nostrae Amen'.
Along the bottom: 'Sit nomen Virg. Mariae benedictum in saecula'.

Attribution
Francisco Pallas y Puig (b. 1859, d. 1926), of Valencia

Hinges
Two hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of gilding and polychromy: gold, red.

Reverse
Hidden by the wooden frame.

Object Condition
Multiple cracks. Paint worn.

Provenance
Collection of Stepan Nikolaevich Mitusov (b. 1847, d. 1922?), Saint Petersburg: his sale, Saint Petersburg, 1897, lot 170 (S. I. Mitusov, Catalog kolletsiii predmetov iz slonovoi kosti S. I. Mitusova, Saint Petersburg, 1897, no. 170). Transferred from the Museum of the Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts (Muzei OPKh) to the Hermitage in 1933.

Bibliography
M. Kryzhanovskaya, Western European Medieval Ivories. Catalogue of the Collection (Зaпaднoeврoпeйскaя рeзнaя кoстъ Срeдних вeкoв. Кataлoг кoллeкции), (Saint Petersburg, 2014), no. 215.

All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.