Diptych, ivory, the Adoration of Kings and the Crucifixion, France, ca. 1350-1375

Ivory diptych. Both leaves of the diptych depict a single trefoil arch, framing the scene below. The arch is supported on corbels, has large foliate crockets, and is crowned with a large finial. Two angels appear in the corners above each arch. Those on the left leaf swing censers (visible beneath the arch) with their right hands and hold incense boats with their left; Those on the right cover their eyes with their hands in grief. The main scene on left leaf is carved with the Adoration of the Kings, with the kneeling Magus handing the standing Christ-Child a large disc similar to a communion wafer, a cross shown in relief on it. The second magus, gloved and wearing a travelling cloak with distinctive corrugated folds over the shoulder, points to the star at the upper right. The right leaf shows a representation of the Crucifixion under a similar arch, above which are angles veiling their faces while another ministers to Jesus. To the left the Virgin swoons, holding her left hand across her stomach, and is supported by two of the Maries. To the right, St John the Evangelist gestures towards Christ with his right hand, while holding a book in his left; behind him the tow Jews are partially visible.

Longhurst stated, it came from the Possenti collection in Fabriano; this was formed by Count Girolamo Possenti in the first half of the nineteenth century, and passed by descent to the Pettoni family after his death. It this is so, the diptych is probably that described as the second of two pieces under cat. no. 4 in the short descriptive catalogue of the collection (Possenti 1877, p. 3); the collection was sold in 1880, and it is likely that the present diptych corresponds to lot 45. The diptych was purchased on 19th June 1889 from the dealer A. Marveco, 118 Lillie Road, Brompton, for £10.

This ivory diptych is carved with the Adoration of the Kings and a representation of the Crucifixion. It is French and dates from about 1350-1375.

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.

311-1889