Ivory;metal (remains of hinges on right).
Register 1: Christ in Glory with his feet on a city (possibly Jerusalem) or church; Virgin and saint John the Evangelist kneeling; angels holding Instruments of the Passion (cross, nails, Christ's seamless garment; spear).
Register 2: standing magus (?); standing Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse); two angels holding candlesticks. Presentation in the Temple; Joseph holding a basket of doves brought as offerings.
Tracery. Rosettes in the spandrels. Rose windows.
Museum's opinion 2010: France (Paris), 1260-1270, Workshop of the Soissons Diptych.
Lowden 2013: North France, c. 1275-1300.
Attribution
Soissons group (Atelier du Diptyque de Soissons)
Hinges
Two missing hinges on either side, with some remains on the right. Two vertical holes at the base.
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy.
Reverse
Large letter 'B' within a circle inscribed probably in ink.
Object Condition
Very desiccated, probably due to prolonged exposure to sunlight rather than water and damp, as only the front of the piece is affected.
Missing: upper part of the gable to the right; pinnacles; left hand of Christ.
Comments
The inner scenes of the wings would have completed the Adoration of the Magi and Presentation scenes.
Provenance
Thomas Gambier Parry, Highnam Court (Gloucestershire)(d. 1888): bought before 1860; Sir Hubert Parry (d. 1918), his eldest son (from 1888); Ernest Gambier-Parry (d. 1936), half-brother of Hubert (from 1918); Mark Gambier-Parry (d. 1966), youngest son of Ernest (from 1936); bequeathed to the Courtauld Institute Galleries in 1966.
Bibliography
J. Gardner, 'The Ivories in the Gambier-Parry Collection', in Burlington Magazine, CIX (March 1967), pp. 140-143, fig. 41.
The Gambier-Parry Collection. Provisional Catalogue (London, 1967), no. 5.
General Catalogue of the Courtauld Institute Galleries (London, 1979), no. 9, p. 11.
D. Farr, 'Thomas Gambier Parry as a Collector', in Thomas Gambier Parry (1816-1888) as Artist and Collector, exhibition catalogue, London, Courtauld Gallery, 1993, pp. 40, 44.
A. H. Levine, On composite Gothic Ivory carving (London: The Courtauld Institute of Art [unpublished M.A. thesis], 2011).
J. Lowden, Medieval and Later Ivories in the Courtauld Gallery (London, 2013), no. 4, pp. 50-57.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), pp. 167-169, in relation to no. 51.
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