Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 1 register, 1 arch across (plaquettes) (Front)

Wing, left
Standing Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse); two standing angels holding candlesticks; angel crowning the Virgin; two angels holding navettes and swinging censers.
Wing, right
Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist; angel holding the sun and the moon; rugged cross. Arch resting on capitals in the shape of crouching hybrids.
Medallions enclosing quatrefoils with rosettes in the spandrels.

Koechlin 1924: France, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Bologna 1959: France, 2nd half of the 14th century.
Bologna 2010-2011: Paris, 2nd quarter of the 14th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two modern hinges.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy.

Reverse
Floral decoration added later (in ink).

Provenance
Collection of count Ludovico Savioli: donated by him to the Collezioni Universitarie (no. 338) in 1776; acquired by the Museo Civico di Bologna in 1881.

Bibliography
J. O. Westwood, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum (London, 1876), Appendix, p. 362.
P. Ducati, Guida del Museo civico di Bologna (Bologna, 1923), p. 182.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 199, 219-221, 246; II, no. 539; III, p. XCVI.
Lavori in osso e avorio dalla Preistoria al Rococò, dir. by R. Pincelli, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Museo Civico, 20 September-11 October 1959, no. 106, pl. 20.
Les Fastes du Gothique: le siècle de Charles V, ed. by F. Baron, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1981, p. 198, in relation to no. 159.
A. Marciano, 'Ludovico Savioli e gli avori dei bassi tempi', in Arte a Bologna 2 (1992), pp. 187-202 (p. 187, pl. 8).
A. Marciano, Avori gotici - entry no. 5 (Museo Civico Medievale), Catalogo dei Musei Civici d'Arte Antica di Bologna (unpublished; [c. 1992-1994]).
Le Madonne di Vitale: Pittura e devozione a Bologna nel Trecento, dir. M. Medica, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Museo Civico Medievale, 2010-2011, no. 13, p. 66.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), in relation to no. 99.

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