Gothic Ivories Project | Diptych, 2 registers, 4 paired arches across (frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Wing, left
Register 1: Betrayal (Taking of Christ; Kiss of Judas); Christ restores Malchus' ear, cut by saint Peter; Carrying of the Cross with the Virgin helping Christ; rugged cross; man holding a hammerman holding nails.
Register 2: Annunciation; vase of lilies; dove of the Holy Spirit. Nativity and Annunciation to the Shepherds; sheep; swaddled Christ.
Wing, right
Register 1: Crucifixion; Virgin supported by one of the Holy Women; saint John the Evangelist and onlooker holding a scroll; Longinus with spear kneeling in prayer; Stephaton giving Christ vinegar; Stephaton holding a bucket; rugged cross. Deposition with the Virgin holding Christ's hand; Joseph of Arimathea holding Christ's body; man with pincers removing the nail from Christ's feet; saint John the Evangelist; rugged cross.
Register 2: Adoration of the Magi (star above the gables); Entry into Jerusalem; apostles including saint John the Evangelist holding a martyr's palm.
Beaded border; pinnacles; tiled roof or brickwork.

Institution's opinion 2015: French, 14th century, previously listed as 17th century.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
No trace of hinges. The inner side of each wing, where the hinges would have been, have been cut off.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy: green (ground in the Annunciation to the Shepherds scene).

Reverse
Flat and smooth.

Object Condition
The upper right corner of the left wing broke and has been kept into place; the upper edge of the wing is chipped where the break has occurred. Another vertical break down the right wing, but it does not seem to go all the way down; the upper edge of the wing is chipped where the break has occurred.
The inner side of each wing, where the hinges would have been, have been cut off.
Hole in the outer edge of the right wing probably to attach a clasp.

Provenance
Possibly purchased for Oscott College or left to Oscott College by either Augustus Welby Pugin (b. 1812, d. 1852) or his benefactor, John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury (b. 1791, d. 1852). Probably part of the ‘collection of miscellaneous ivory carvings depicting scenes from the gospels’ mentioned in the inventory drawn by Rev. William Greaney in 1880.

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