Inv. 01.04.51
Register 1: angel praying; clouds.
Register 2: Holy Family; seated Virgin and Child; Joseph picking fruits from a tree; ass.
Register 3: Nativity; Virgin in bed; midwife holding Christ.
Register 4: Virgin holding Christ (probably part of a Presentation in the Temple); standing Joseph (later repair).
Randall 1993: Spanish or French (?), c. 1300.
Attribution
Unknown
Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges on the right side side. Trace of one missing hinge on the left side (the trace of the lower hinge is now lost, as the lower left corner is a later repair).
Reverse
Flat and smooth.
Object Condition
Central hole in the gable. Figures rubbed and worn. The gable has been trimmed.
Missing: lower left corner (later repair).
Comments
Randall (1993) suggests this originally was the outer left wing of a Virgin tabernacle with four wings but, as it features traces of hinges on both sides, it must have been an inner wing, either on the right or on the left. The iconography is unusual, with the Holy Family scene composed like a Coronation scene.
Provenance
Bought by Dr. Albert Barnes before 1922.
Bibliography
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Ivory Carvings in North American Collections (New York, 1993), no. 44.
All images on this website are made available exclusively for scholarly and educational purposes and may not be used commercially.
