Register 1: Coronation of the Virgin; clouds; angel holding the sun and moon.
Register 2: Annunciation; Visitation.
Griggs 1904-1907: England, 14th century.
Koechlin 1924: France, 1st third of the 14th century.
Longhurst 1929: French, 1st half of the 14th century.
Williamson and Davies 2014: France (probably Paris), c. 1300-10.
Attribution
Rose group (Koechlin 1924)
Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges on the right side. Part of one hinge remains in the lower part.
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy: green (upper borders of each scene; lining of garments). Earlier photographs show painted haloes and diapered backgrounds.
Reverse
Flat and smooth.
Two labels with inscriptions; 'Q. 67 Ivory Carving of the XIII Century with the Coronation of the Virgin. From the Collection of Rev. William Bird of Mordiford near Hereford,' 'Q. 67 Ivory Carving of the XIII Century with the Coronation of the Virgin. From the Collection of Rev. William Bird of Mordiford near Hereford', 'Annunciation and the Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth.'
Object Condition
Lower border chipped; some crosshatchings in broken area.
Cut in half above the band of rosettes.
Comments
The right wing is also in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (A.67-1925). See related objects.
Provenance
Collection of the Reverend William Bird of Mordiford, Herefordshire (see label on the reverse), possibly the father of Rev. Charles John Bird (d. 1855), antiquarian and vicar from 1804 to 1855. Collection of W. and T. Bateman, Youlgreave, Derby, England: Bateman sale, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London, 14 April 1893, lot 34, pl. III; purchased at this sale by the Museum.
For the provenance of the right wing, see A.67-1925, also in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Bibliography
W. Griggs, Portfolio of Ivories [London, 1904-1907], pt. XXXIV.
E. S. Prior, A. Gardner, Mediaeval Figure-Sculpture in England (Cambridge, 1912), p. 372, fig. 427.
R. Koechlin, 'Les Diptyques à décor de roses', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1918), p. 238, note 2.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 157, 161; II, no. 261 (left leaf only).
M. Longhurst, Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2 vols (London, 1927 and 1929), II (1929), p. 17, pl. XII.
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Ivory Carvings in North American Collections (New York, 1993), pp. 66, 70.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), no. 77.
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