Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 3 registers, 5 arches across (frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: Annunciation; vase of lilies; dove of the Holy Spirit; Nativity and Annunciation to the Shepherds.
Register 2: Betrayal (Taking of Christ; Kiss of Judas); Christ restores Malchus' ear, cut by saint Peter; Death of Judas.
Register 3: Ascension.
Wing, right
Register 1: Adoration of the Magi; attendant with horses.
Register 2: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist; Resurrection; two angels standing on the tomb.
Register 3: Pentecost.

Randall 1985: French (Paris), 4th quarter of the 14th century.
Detroit 1997 and Museum's opinion 2010: France (Paris), 4th quarter of the 14th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two hinges.

Reverse
Incised outline of the stand on the back and 6 V-shaped slots are filed into the back of each wing.

Object Condition
Square holes in the centre arch of the two lower registers (now plugged with ivory), probably to attach to a stand.

Comments
Gaborit-Chopin (2003) writes that this and other related objects depicting the Ascension and Pentecost were likely made by the same atelier.

Provenance
Collection of John Malcolm of Poltalloch, County Argyll, Scotland. Collection of Baron Malcolm of Poltalloch. Collection of Edward Donald Malcolm: sold, London, 1 May 1913, lot 21. Bought by Henry Walters in 1922 from Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Co., New York; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Bibliography
Catalogue of Bronzes and Ivories, exhibition catalogue, London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1879, no. 281.
The International Style: The Arts of Europe around 1400, ed. by P. Verdier, exhibition catalogue, Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 1962, no. 113.
Les Fastes du Gothique: le siècle de Charles V, ed. by F. Baron, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1981, no. 163.
R. H. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York, 1985), no. 312.
Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. by Peter Barnet, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, p. 179, fig. 31-33c.

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