The Virgin and Child, the Crucifixion and the Last Judgement
- Object:
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Sculpture, room 111, case 8
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Ivory was used all over Europe for religious works of art. It was often combined with precious metals and usually took the form of relief panels, for book covers, portable altars and caskets. An almost unbroken tradition of ivory carving extends from the Roman and Byzantine empires until the end of the 14th century. From about 1250, Paris became the centre of production for figures and reliefsintended for private devotion.
Physical description
Triptych. Divided horizontally into three tiers each surmounted by an arcade of cusped trefoil arches supported by slender colums, at the top are gables and pinnacles. On the lowest tier are the Virgin and Child with a kneeling bishop; on the wings the Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation; on the central tier the Crucifixion with, on the wings, the Virgin and St. John, the Synagogue (blindfold) and the Church (crowned) ; above the Last Judgment, on the wings a bishop conducted to Heaven, angels blowing trumpets and the Jaws of Hell.
Place of Origin
Paris, France (made)
Date
1290-1300 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Carved elephant ivory
Dimensions
Height: 20 cm, Width: 21.5 cm
Object history note
From the Morland Collection (Sale, Christie's, May 9th, 1866, No.207). Formerly in the Soltikoff Collection (Sale, 1861, Catalogue, No.236)
Descriptive line
Ivory, French (Paris), late 13th century
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1866. 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. 18.
Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. London: Pub. under the authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929. Part II. p. 11.
Brennan, Christine E. [M.A. thesis] Prince Petr Soltykoff: an Important Nineteenth-Century Collector of Medieval Art. New York: The Bard Graduate Center, 2003. no. 236.
cf. Morey, C. R. Gli Oggetti di Avorio e di Osso del Museo Sacro Vaticano. 1936. pp. 27-28. fig. 21. no. vii.
cf. Morey, C. R. Italian Gothic Ivories: Medieval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939. pp. 183, 186. fig. 4. no. vii.
cf. Toesca, P. Il Trecento: Storia dell'arte Italiana. Turin: 1951. vol II. p. 924. note. 167.
cf. Grodecki, L. Ivoires Français. Paris, 1947. pp. 90-91.
Production Note
Probably Parisian, from the workshop of the Master of the Salting Leaf.
Materials
Elephant ivory
Techniques
Carving
Subjects depicted
Jesus Christ; Mary (Virgin Mary); St. John the Baptist
Categories
Sculpture; Christianity
Collection code
SCP
