Gothic Ivories Project | Triptych, 2 registers, 2 arches across (wings) and 4 arches across (centre panel) (frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Height: 150mm (centre panel); 145mm (wings)
Width: 222mm
Depth: 12mm (centre panel)

Wing, left
Register 1: Carrying of the Cross with the Virgin helping Christ; winged hat.
Register 2: Judas receiving the reward.
Centre panel
Register 1: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist; Deposition with the Virgin holding Christ's hand; Joseph of Arimathea holding Christ's body.
Register 2: Betrayal (Taking of Christ; Kiss of Judas); Death of Judas (Judas hanging).
Wing, right
Register 1: Entombment (Anointing of Christ's body).
Register 2: Flagellation.

Dalton 1912: French, mid 14th century.
London 1923: French, 14th century.
Koechlin 1924: France, beginning of the 2nd third of the 14th century
Museum's opinion 2011: France, c. 1340-1360.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two sets of two hinges on either side.

Reverse
Flat and smooth.
Labels with inscriptions: coat of arms with inscription 'FAX MENTIS HONESTAE GLORIA' [Gibson Carmichael?], '103'. Blue and white round label with '18' (1902 sale). Small label with '109'.Fitzwilliam label with MacClean provenance.

Object Condition
Two drilled holes on either side in the lower edge of the centre panel, possibly to secure the triptych into a base. The lower edge is also crosshatched. Hole in the upper border of each panel. Repair to the lower right hinge.
An area in the middle of the centre panel is damaged.
Missing: part of the column of the Flagellation; left hand of a soldier in the Carrying of the Cross; right leg of Judas broken.

Provenance
Charles Stein collection, Paris. Collection of Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael: his sale, Christie's, London, 12 May 1902, lot 18. Collection of Frank McClean: his bequest to the Museum in 1904.

Bibliography
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Mediaeval Ivories, Enamels, Jewellery, Gems and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed to the Museum by Frank McClean, M.A., F.R.S. (Cambridge, 1912), no. 42, pl. X.
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Carvings in Ivory, exhibition catalogue, London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1923, no. 110, pl. XXXV.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 167; II, no. 286; III, pl. LXXIIIbis.

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