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The Life of Christ and Coronation of the Virgin

Diptych
1360-1380 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is an ivory diptych made in about 1360-1380 in Paris, France.This diptych is divided into two tiers, each surmounted by an arcade of trefoil arches. On the left leaf are, below, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi, above, the Crucifixion, on the right leaf above, the Descent from the cross and the Entombment, below, Christ with St. Mary Magdelene in the Garden and the Coronation of the Virgin.
The figure and facial types are distinctive, including elongated bodies with spindly extremeties and faces with large noses continuing in a straight line from the brow, with the lower areas much reduced. This type of figure finds parallel in the artworks produced during the reign of Charles V (1356-80).

The devotional diptych is in many ways the object type most associated with the notion of Gothic ivory carving. The earliest examples probably date to the 1240s; these are complex, large and ambitious works that emerged, somewhat surprisingly, with no obvious precursors. The owners of ivory diptychs sometimes appear within their images. Such portraits indicate that they were special requests on the part of their commissioners, and they parallel the similar figures that appear in manuscripts and panel paintings of the period. The iconography of Gothic diptychs oscillated between two poles. The first of which is the desire to present narratives (Life of Christ and Virgin Mary) for envisaging. The second was the use of non-narrative images to form the focus of devotion.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Life of Christ and Coronation of the Virgin (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Carved elephant ivory
Brief description
Diptych, carved ivory, depicting the Life of Christ and the Coronation of the Virgin, France (Paris), 1360-1380
Physical description
Carved ivory diptych, each leaf divided into two registers, each surmounted by an arcade of trefoil arches supported on corbels, with a stepped moulding above; each arch bears foliate crockets and finials. Beneath three of the arcades, two scenes appear side by side, with no division between them. In the fourth (the upper register of the left leaf), is only a single scene. On the left leaf are, below, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi, above, the Crucifixion, on the right leaf above, the Descent from the cross and the Entombment, below, Christ with St. Mary Magdalene in the Garden and the Coronation of the Virgin.
Dimensions
  • Height: 17.5cm
  • Width: 23.3cm
Object history
In the possession of John Webb, London, by 1862; purchased from Webb in 1867, for £106.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is an ivory diptych made in about 1360-1380 in Paris, France.This diptych is divided into two tiers, each surmounted by an arcade of trefoil arches. On the left leaf are, below, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi, above, the Crucifixion, on the right leaf above, the Descent from the cross and the Entombment, below, Christ with St. Mary Magdelene in the Garden and the Coronation of the Virgin.
The figure and facial types are distinctive, including elongated bodies with spindly extremeties and faces with large noses continuing in a straight line from the brow, with the lower areas much reduced. This type of figure finds parallel in the artworks produced during the reign of Charles V (1356-80).

The devotional diptych is in many ways the object type most associated with the notion of Gothic ivory carving. The earliest examples probably date to the 1240s; these are complex, large and ambitious works that emerged, somewhat surprisingly, with no obvious precursors. The owners of ivory diptychs sometimes appear within their images. Such portraits indicate that they were special requests on the part of their commissioners, and they parallel the similar figures that appear in manuscripts and panel paintings of the period. The iconography of Gothic diptychs oscillated between two poles. The first of which is the desire to present narratives (Life of Christ and Virgin Mary) for envisaging. The second was the use of non-narrative images to form the focus of devotion.
Bibliographic references
  • Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1867. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1. London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 7
  • Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. London: Published under the Authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929, Part II, p. 20
  • Gross, Enid Karr. Religious relief ivory carving during the regency and reign of Charles V of France (1356 - 1380). [Ph. D. dissertation] Syracues University, 1986, pp. 175-176, 252-253, pl. 52
  • Maskell, W., A Description of the Ivories Ancient and Medieval in the South Kensington Museum, London, 1872 p. 121
  • Maskell, A., Ivories, London, 1905 p. 162
  • Koechlin, R., Les Ivoires gothiques français, 3 vols, Paris, 1924 (reprinted Paris 1968) I, p. 184, II, cat.no. 349
  • Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014 part 1, pp. 308-309
  • Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014, part 1, pp. 308-309, cat. no. 103
Collection
Accession number
293-1867

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Record createdOctober 18, 2004
Record URL
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