Gothic Ivories Project | Gabled triptych, with arches (tabernacle; colonnettes) (Front, open)

Wing, left
Register 1: Annunciation; dove of the Holy Spirit; vase of lilies.
Register 2: Adoring Magi (part of the Adoration of the Magi).
Centre panel
Seated Virgin and Child; Christ standing on the Virgin's left knee; angel crowning the Virgin.
Wing, right
Register 1: Nativity; Virgin holding Christ.
Register 2: Presentation in the Temple; Christ standing on the altar between the Virgin and Simeon.
Pointed trefoils in the spandrels; pinnacles.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive gilding and polychromy: gold (painted halo enclosing the dove of the Holy Spirit; decorative pattern along the hems; hair; trefoils; crowns; architectural details), red (base), green, black.

Reverse
Flat and smooth, with some scoring. An additional piece of ivory has been secured to the back of the gabled part of the centre panel.

Comments
Pedestal added at a later stage (19th century).

Provenance
Boy collection, Paris; acquired by the Stieglitz Museum of Applied Arts in 1884; in the Hermitage Museum since 1924.

Bibliography
Gosudarstvennyi Ermitazh, Prikladnoe iskusstvo Italii v sobranii Ermitazha, exhibition catalogue, Leningrad [Saint Petersburg], 1985, no. 10.
Rzemioslo artystyczne zachodniej europy od XI do XVI wieku, ze zbiorów panstwowego ermitazu w Sank Petersburgu, exhibition catalogue, Malbork, The Malbork Castle Museum, 1994, no. 37, fig. 22.
M. Kryzhanovskaya, Western European Medieval Ivories. Catalogue of the Collection (Зaпaднoeврoпeйскaя рeзнaя кoстъ Срeдних вeкoв. Кataлoг кoллeкции), (Saint Peterburg, 2014), no. 152.

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