Gothic Ivories Project | Openwork diptych, 3 registers, 3 arches across (frise d'arcatures; colonnettes; ajouré); known as the portable altar of king Christian I (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: Annunciation. Nativity; hanging curtain. Adoring Magi (part of an Adoration of the Magi.
Register 2: Presentation in the Temple; Christ standing on the altar between the Virgin and Simeon; maid holding a basket of doves brought as offerings; Virgin holding a candlestick. Resurrection; two kneeling figures. Coronation of the Virgin.
Register 3: Miracles of the Virgin; resurrection or healing scene; blessing hand of God. Unidentified miracle; deathbed scene (?); Virgin feeding (?) a cleric lying in bed. Lactation of saint Bernard; saint Bernard drinking from the Virgins's breast.
Wing, right
Register 1: Saint Olaf breaching sabbath. Coronation of saint Olaf; blessing hand of God; halberd. Saint Olaf liberating Danish prisoners from the Wends; boat.
Register 2: Miracles of saint Olaf (king). Miracle of the harvest at Thorgeir's field; saint Olaf on horseback. Saint Olaf healing the widow's son. Saint Olaf helping the Varangians against the Byzantine emperor; battle scene; soldiers; sword; shield; horse.
Register 3: Saint Olaf healing a mutilated English priest; blessing hand of God. Saint Olaf on horseback; halberd or axe. Martyrdom of saint Olaf.
Upper border: four Symbols of the Evangelists (lion of saint Mark; eagle of saint John the Evangelist; angel of saint Matthew; ox of saint Luke), on either side of the Holy Face of Christ (Sancta Facies).
Right border: saint Mary Magdalene holding an ointment pot; saint Catherine of Alexandria with wheel and sword; saint Sunniva holding a piece of cliff.
Lower border: bearded head under arches.
Borders with foliated decoration and pierced trefoils and quatrefoils; openwork tracery; birds.
Painted reliefs on the back of the frame (later)
Wing, left: standing Virgin and Child; stem of lilies.
Wing, right: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist.

Liebgott 1985: Norway, c. 1300-1310.
Liden 1999: Norway, c. 1300-1310.
Museum's opinion 2013: Norway, c. 1300-1310; c. 1435 (wooden frame).

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two hinges on the frame.

Reverse
Hidden by the frame.
Painted reliefs on the back of the frame
Wing, left: standing Virgin and Child; stem of lilies.
Wing, right: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist.

Object Condition
Missing: some of the borders (replaced with wooden strips).

Comments
This diptych is made of numerous pieces of ivory kept together by the frame.

Provenance
Registered in the inventories of Det kgl. Kunstkammer (the Royal Danish Kunstkammer, 1650-1825) of 1674, 1690, 1689. After the Kunstkammer was dissolved the piece appears in the inventory of Museum Regnum of 1699 and 1710. Registered in the inventory of Museet for Nordiske Oldsager (Museum of Northern Antiquities, 1819-1892) of 1845.

Bibliography
T. Kielland, 'Kunsthaandverket i Middelalderen', in Norsk Kunsthistorie I (Oslo, 1925), p. 261.
M. Mackeprang, 'Det saakaldte Christian I's Rejsealter', in Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie (Copenhagen, 1926), pp. 77-98.
Nörge 872-1972, Middelalderkunst fra Norge i andre land [Norwegian Medieval Art Abroad], dir. by M. Blindheim, exhibition catalogue, Oslo, Universitets Oldsaksamling, 1972, p. 10, p. 30.
K. Banning, 'Der Reisealtar des Königs Christian des Ersten. Übersicht und Kommentar', in Sankt Olav, seine Zeit und sein Kult (Visby, 1981), pp. 161-168.
N. K. Liebgott, Elfenben - fra Danmarks Middelalder (Copenhagen, 1985), pp. 49-50, fig. 47.
A. Lidén, Olav den Helige i Medeltida Bildkonst, Legendmotiv och attribut (Stockholm, 1999), p. 195.
L. Karlsson, Medeltida bildkonst (unpublished PhD thesis - ICO, Copenhagen, 2001).

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