Inv. TAU1905000106
Register 1: Crucifixion, with jet of blood or spear striking the Virgin's chest; Virgin supported by Holy Women; saint John the Evangelist and onlookers holding scrolls.
Register 2: Nativity.
Koechlin 1924: France, 2nd third of the 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges on the right side.
Reverse
Flat and smooth.
Inscription: 'Ce morceau d'yvoire est l'un des deux couverts d'un livre antique que l'on conservoit dans le monastère de Signy-l'abbaye, (de l'ordre de Cîteaux), fille de Clairevaux et fondée par St Bernard dans le XIIe siècle'. In smaller script though probably by the same hand: 'diocèse de Reims'.
Object Condition
Left wing damaged: the raised border and middle division have been filed and turned into a flat surface.
Comments
The right wing of this diptych is also in the Palais du Tau in Rheims (Inv. TAU1905000107).
Provenance
Said to have come from Signy l'Abbaye (see inscription on the back); entered the Treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Rheims c. 1840.
Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 174; II, no. 316.
L. André, D. Cailleaux, Récolement des objets mobiliers classés au titre des Monuments Historiques dans la ville de Reims, rapport de fin d'étude (Paris, 1986), no. 116/1 and no. 116/2.
Palissy database: http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/dapapal_fr [accessed September 2009].
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