Gothic Ivories Project | Gabled diptych with pinnacles, 3 registers, 3 arches across (frise d'arcatures; colonnettes) (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: Three Holy Women at the Tomb, with angel seated on the tomb. Noli me Tangere (Christ appearing to saint Mary Magdalene); trees. Christ appearing to the Holy Women.
Register 2: Harrowing of Hell with Adam and Eve coming out of the Mouth of Hell. Resurrection with three soldiers asleep. Entombment (Anointing of Christ's body).
Register 3: Judas receiving the reward. Betrayal (Taking of Christ; Kiss of Judas). Death of Judas (Judas hanging).
Wing, right
Register 1: Doubting Thomas (the incredulity of saint Thomas). Ascension. Pentecost; dove of the Holy Spirit; apostles.
Register 2: Deposition with the Virgin holding Christ's hand; man with pincers removing the nail from Christ's feet. Crucifixion with thieves. Carrying of the Cross.
Register 3: Christ before Pilate; Pilate washing his hands. Flagellation.
Pinnacles.

Vöge 1900 and Volbach 1923: France, late 13th century.
Koechlin 1924: France, end of 13th century.
Darmstadt and Munich 1999 and Museum's opinion 2010: Paris, c. 1250.
Guérin 2009: Paris, 1260-1270.
Naumburg 2011: Paris, c. 1250.

Attribution
Soissons group (Atelier du Diptyque de Soissons) (Volbach)

Hinges
Two metal hinges.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy: green (background and trees).

Object Condition
Original addition on each panel to compensate the curvature of the tusk.
Vertical crack down both wings.
Pinnacles partly restored.
Missing: part of the cross held by Christ in the Resurrection scene.

Provenance
Acquired in 1845 for the Berlin Kunstkammer.

Bibliography
J. O. Westwood, Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), Appendix, p. 437, no. 873.
Ausstellung von Kunstwerken des Mittelalters und der Renaissance aus berliner Privatbesitz, veranstaltet von der kunstgeschichtlichen Gesellschaft, exhibition catalogue, Berlin, 20 May-3 July 1898, p. 65.
W. Vöge, Die Königlichen Museen zu Berlin. Beschreibung der Bildwerke der christlichen Epochen. Zweite Auflage. Elfenbeinwerke (Berlin, 1900), no. 78, 79.
R. Koechlin, 'Quelques ateliers d'ivoiriers français aux XIII et XIVe siècles. II. L'atelier des tabernacles de la Vierge', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 34 (1905), p. 367.
O. Pelka, Elfenbein (Berlin, 1920), p. 183.
W. F. Volbach, Die Bildwerke des Deutschen Museums, Die Elfenbeinbildwerke (Berlin, 1923), p. 35, pl. 41.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 71, 83, 184, 215, 453; II, no. 39; III, pl. XVI.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires du Moyen Age (Freiburg, 1978), p. 145.
Meisterwerke aus Elfenbein der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, exhibition catalogue, Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum and Munich, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, 1999, no. 36.
S. M. Guérin, 'Tears of Compunction': French Gothic Ivories in Devotional Practice (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Toronto, 2009), esp. pp. 368-369, pl. 22.
Der Naumburger Meister - Bildhauer und Architekt im Europa der Kathedralen, exhibition catalogue, Naumburg, 2011, II, no. XIX.9 (H. Krohm).
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), pp. 218-221, in relation to no. 68.

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