This is an ivory diptych made in Paris, about 1350-1375. The diptych depicts scenes from the passion of Christ in six compartments, each surmounted by four trefoil arches; to be read across both leaves from the top left-hand corner -the Entry into Jerusalem; Christ washing the Disciple's feet; the Last Supper; the Agony in the Garden; the Betrayal; the Hanging of Judas; and the Crucifixion.

This impressive diptych is one of ten examples grouped by Koechlin under the heading of 'grands diptyques de la Passion', which he suggested were made in a single Parisian workshop (Koechlin, R., 1924, I, pp. 284-91, II, pp. 285-288). The later silver mounts, probably added in the sixteenth century, indicate that the diptych was then highly valued and considered worthy of embellishment, perhaps within the context of a royal collection or religious foundation.

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.