Gothic Ivories Project | Gabled triptych, 2 registers, 1 arch across (Front)

Brussels, Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire - Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst und Geschiedenis (Musée du Cinquantenaire)

Wing, left
Register 1: Virgin and one of the Holy Women (part of the Crucifixion).
Register 2: Adoring Magi (part of the Adoration of the Magi).
Centre panel
Register 1: Crucifixion; Longinus with spear kneeling in prayer; Stephaton giving Christ vinegar.
Register 2: Standing Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse); two angels holding candlesticks.
Wing, right
Register 1: saint John the Evangelist and onlooker (part of the Crucifixion).
Register 2: Presentation in the Temple; Christ standing on the altar between the Virgin and Simeon.

Koechlin 1924: end of the 1st half of the 14th century.
Brussels 1964: France, 1st half of the 14th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two ring hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of polychromy and gilding (upper layer not medieval): blue, purple, red, green, gold (background decorated with dotted pattern).

Reverse
The centre panel has a curved back with a fake engraved date added in a later hand '1357'.Ink inscription: 'no. 280'.

Object Condition
Missing: upper parts of the gables. Central hole in the upper part of the centre panel.

Provenance
Vermeersch bequest in 1911.

Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 136; II, no. 193.
A. Jansen, Christelijke Kunst tot het einde der Middeleeuwen - Art chrétien jusqu'à la fin du Moyen Age, exhibition catalogue, Brussels, Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis-Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, 1964, no. 274.
KIK/IRPA database: http://www.kikirpa.be/www2/wwwopac/en/object.html [accessed October 2009].
J. Lowden, Medieval and Later Ivories in the Courtauld Gallery (London, 2013), p. 56, in relation to no. 5.

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