Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 2 registers, 3 arches across (frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: Martyrdom of saint Stephen (Stoning of saint Stephen).
Register 2: Decollation of saint John the Baptist (Martyrdom of saint John the Baptist); Salome holding a large bowl to receive the head.
Wing, right
Register 1: Crucifixion; swooning Virgin supported by Holy Women; saint John the Evangelist and onlookers holding scrolls; sun and moon.
Register 2: Adoration of the Magi.
Pointed trefoils in the spandrels.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two holes in the left corners of the saints leaf and the right corners of the life of Christ panel seem to indicate that these were once mounted the other way round. These holes, however, do not correspond to the usual placing of hinges in such diptychs and are likely to be later.

Provenance
Collection of Friedrich Marx: Marx bequest to the Museum in 1919; stolen in 1945 from the castle of Rauhenzell im Allgäu where the collections of the museum had been deposited.

Bibliography
T. Jülich, Die mittelalterlichen Elfenbeinarbeiten des Hessischen Landesmuseums Darmstadt, exhibition catalogue, Regensburg, 2007, no. V7.

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