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Diptych

Diptych
ca. 1300 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This Dyptich depicting the Annunciation and the Visitation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi and the Coronation of the Virgin was made by an unknown artist in about 1300 in France, Paris.
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
TitleDiptych (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Carved ivory
Brief description
Diptych, ivory, Diptych, ivory, scenes from the life of the Virgin, France (Paris), ca. 1300, France (Paris), ca. 1300
Physical description
Each leaf of the diptych is divided into two registers, separated by a simple moulding bearing six rosettes. The scenes read from left to right,from bottom up. On the left leaf are, below, the Annunciation and the Visitation and right below, the Nativity; above are the Adoration of the Mgi and the Coronation of the Virgin.
Dimensions
  • Height: 14.5cm
  • Each leaf width: 7.4cm
Object history
The Diptych formed part of the Daugny collection in Paris, from which it was sold on 8 March 1858 (lot 12); according to that sale catalogue it had formerly been in the Roger collection in Lyons (dispersed 1841). It was bought at the Daugny sale by Webb, London, for 450 fr., who immediately sold it to the Museum (£30).
Subjects depicted
Summary
This Dyptich depicting the Annunciation and the Visitation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi and the Coronation of the Virgin was made by an unknown artist in about 1300 in France, Paris.
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 1858. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 15
  • Longhurst, Margaret H., Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, p. 17
  • Maskell, W. A Description of the Ivories Ancient and Medieval in the South Kensington Museum, London, 1872 p. 18
  • Maskell, A., Ivories, London, 1905 pp. 161-162
  • Koechlin, R., Les Ivoires gothiques français, 3 vols, Paris, 1924 (reprinted Paris 1968) I, pp. 280, 282, II, cat. no. 782, III, pl. CXXXIV
  • Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires du Moyen Age. Fribourg, 1978 p. 207
  • 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. 238-239
  • 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. 238-239, cat. no. 75
Collection
Accession number
6824-1858

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Record createdAugust 13, 2008
Record URL
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