Cl. 417
Register 1: Harrowing of Hell with Adam and Eve coming out of the Mouth of Hell; souls burning in Hell; demons. Kneeling saint Mary Magdalene (part of Noli me Tangere (Christ appearing to saint Mary Magdalene)).
Register 2: standing saint John the Evangelist (part of a Crucifixion scene). Carrying of the Cross. Executioner (probably part of a Flagellation scene).
Rose windows. Buttresses. Pinnacles.
Koechlin 1924: France, beginning of the 14th century (Atelier du Diptyque de Soissons).
Randall 1985: France (Paris), 1250-1270.
Le Pogam 1993: France, c. 1250.
Detroit 1997: Northern France or Paris, 1250-1270.
Museum's opinion 2010: France, c. 1250. Attributed to the Maitre de Soissons.
Attribution
Soissons group (Atelier du Diptyque de Soissons)(Koechlin 1924)
Object Condition
Horizontally broken in the middle. Numerous cracks. A few repairs in wood (possibly boxwood).
Comments
The left wing has survived and is now at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (71.157) (see related object).
Provenance
Collection of Alexandre Du Sommerard: acquired for the museum in 1843.
Bibliography
E. Du Sommerard, Catalogue et description des antiquités et objets d'art exposés au musée de Cluny (Paris, 1883), no. 1062.
E. Molinier, Histoire générale des Arts appliqués à l'Industrie. I: Les Ivoires (Paris, 1896), p. 184.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 76, 84; II, no. 42.
R. H. Randall, 'A Passion Diptych', in The Walters Art Bulletin, 21:7 (1969), pp. 1-2.
A. Erlande-Brandenburg, P.-Y. Le Pogam, D. Sandron, Musée national du Moyen âge-Thermes de Cluny: guide des collections (Paris, 1993), no. 155, p. 130.
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, no. 11, pp. 132-134.
L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1998, p. 141.
Paris Ville Rayonnante, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Musée de Cluny, 2010, no. 15.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), pp. 218-221, in relation to no. 68.
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