Attribution
Soissons group (Atelier du Diptyque de Soissons) (Koechlin 1924); Master of the Salting leaf (Natanson 1951)

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive gilding and polychromy.Verdier was of the opinion that the painted wings were later than the central panel (Verdier 1982), but Gaborit-Chopin argued otherwise (Detroit 1997).

Reverse
Flat and smooth.
Labels on the back of the centre panel: '3.317' (with blue border), 'Exposition rétrospective de Lyon' handwritten '1449 Musées de Lyon' (large label, partly covered by an orange label); handwritten inscription 'Cabinet Lambert instalation [sic] provisoire' (covering another label).
Inscription in red on the back of the left wing: '422'.

Object Condition
Two holes in the lower part of the central panel, at the feet of the angels.

Provenance
Collection of Jacques-Amédée Lambert: his bequest to the Museum in 1850.

Bibliography
J.-B. Giraud, Recueil descriptif et raisonné des principaux objets d'art ayant figuré à l'exposition rétrospective de Lyon, 1877 (Lyon, 1878), pl. VII.
P. Dissard and J.-B. Giraud, Catalogue sommaire des musées de la ville de Lyon (Lyon, 1887), p. 180, no. 46.
P. Dissard and J.-B. Giraud, Catalogue sommaire des musées de la ville de Lyon (Lyon, 1900), p. 296, no. 78.
R. Koechlin, 'Quelques ateliers d'ivoiriers français aux XIII et XIVe siècles. I. L'atelier du diptyque du trésor de Soissons', in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 34 (1905), pp. 362-379 (p. 369).
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 76, 85, 86, 128; II, no. 55; III, pl. XXI.
J. Natanson, Gothic Ivories of the 13th and 14th Centuries (London, 1951), p. 33, fig. 18.
R. Jullian, Le musée de Lyon, Sculptures, Objets d'art (Paris, 1954), p. 50.
On Jacques-Amédée Lambert, see: J.-F. Garmier, 'Le Goût du Moyen Âge chez les collectionneurs lyonnais du XIXe siècle', in Revue de l'Art 47 (1980), p. 57 (where he is erroneously called Jacques-Antoine).
P. Verdier, 'Le Triptyque d'ivoire à volets peints au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon', in Bulletin des Musées et Monuments Lyonnais, vol. VII, no. 2, 1982, pp. 17-30.
R. Koekkoek, Gotische ivoren in het Catharijneconvent (Utrecht, 1987), fig. 9.
P. Durey, Le Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Musées et Monuments de France (Paris, 1988), no. 2, fig. 2.
Avori bizantini e medievali nel museo nazionale di Ravenna, ed. by L. Martini and C. Rizzardi (Ravenna, 1990), pp. 92, 121, fig. 46.
'Acquisitions du musée des Beaux-arts de Lyon 1990', in Bulletin des musées et monuments lyonnais, 1991, no. 1, p. 48.
C. Briend, Les Objets d'Art: guide des collections. Musée des Beaux-arts de Lyon (Paris, 1993), pp. 20-21, fig. 5.
Connaissance des arts, Lyon-Musée des Beaux-Arts, Hors-série no. 48 (1994), p. 13, fig. 14.
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. 59, fig. IV-10.
D. Brachlianoff, C. Briend, P. Durey, V. Lavergne-Durey, V. Gay, G. Galliano, J.-C. Goyon, F. Planet, Guide des collections (Lyon-Paris, 1998), p. 63.
L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1998, p. 141.
J. Lowden, Medieval and Later Ivories in the Courtauld Gallery (London, 2013), p. 52, in relation to no. 4.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), pp. 167-169, in relation to no. 51.