This ivory panel is carved in high relief with depictions of the Coronation of the Virgin and the Virgin with the infant Saviour with attendant Angels. It originally formed the centre of a triptych. The panel is of somewhat mediocre quality, the execution of the angels, for instance, being clumsy and formulaic and their wings only summarily carved.
The Gothic Triptych was to all intents and purposes a sub-branch of the tabernacle polyptych, with a shallower central panel and two, rather than four, hinged wings. The subject matter was the same, dominated by single images of the standing Virgin and Child and scenes from the infancy of Christ. Triptychs – like diptychs – are better suited to the needs of a travelling clientele, who would wish to take these small portable altars with them as aids to prayer. Some of them were intended to be carried in cases, usually of cuir bouilli (boiled leather).