Koechlin 1924: France, beginning of the 2nd third of the 14th century.
Museum's opinion 2013: 2nd third of the 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges.
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy.
Reverse
Flat and smooth. Longer edges chamfered. A strip at the top and bottom of each wing at the back has been shaved, possibly to fit the diptych into a frame.
Object Condition
Broken around the hinges; upper border of the right wing chipped.
Right edge of the right wing cracked.
A strip at the top and bottom of each wing at the back has been shaved, possibly to fit the diptych into a frame.
Comments
Said to have been used to decorate the binding of a choir book in Beromünster Abbey.
Provenance
Said to have come from the Abbey of Beromünster (Canton of Lucerne) where it would have been decorating the binding of a choir book which disappeared c. 1500 (according to Koechlin 1924). Purchased by the museum on 10 March 1939, through Dr Hans Meyer-Rahn (Lucerne).
Bibliography
Estermann, Das Älteste Directorium Chori von Beromünster, Indicateur des Antiquités suisses (1906), no. 2.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 170, 172; II, no. 291; III, pl. LXXIV.
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