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The Death of the Virgin and the Adoration of the Magi

Diptych Leaf
ca. 1300-1310 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This right leaf of an ivory diptych, made in ca. 1300-1310 in France (probably Paris), depicts the Adoration of the Magi and the Death of the Virgin.
The narrative reads from left to right in the lower register and from right to left in the upper, and shows the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Death of the Virgin and the Coronation of the Virgin. The scenes, on two tiers are separated by bands of rosettes. The carvings are distinguished by dramatic sentiment and tragic grandeur. There are few parallels for the present diptych, although the iconographic choices can be paralleled in other rose diptychs.

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
TitleThe Death of the Virgin and the Adoration of the Magi (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Elephant ivory
Brief description
Diptych leaf, right, ivory, French, first half of the 14th century
Physical description
Right leaf of an ivory diptych. In the upper part the body of the Virgin reclines on her bed, surrounded by the twelve apostles, Christs stands above holding her soul which is represented as a child. The lower part, separated by a band of rosettes, shows the Virign with the Child seated on the right. One king kneels on the left and the other two stand in the background.
Dimensions
  • Height: 18.8cm
  • Open width: 18.3cm
Credit line
Bequeathed by Mrs G. Cowell
Object history
The right leaf was in the possession of Mary Margaret Elizabeth Hamilton Roe (née Laurie) when exhibited on loan at the South Kensington Museum in 1887-88; after her husband's death she married George Cowell, and this lead to the mistaken assumption by Longhurst that the Mrs Cowell who bequeathed the plaque to the Museum in 1925 was a different person.
Production
Paris School (?).
Subjects depicted
Summary
This right leaf of an ivory diptych, made in ca. 1300-1310 in France (probably Paris), depicts the Adoration of the Magi and the Death of the Virgin.
The narrative reads from left to right in the lower register and from right to left in the upper, and shows the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Death of the Virgin and the Coronation of the Virgin. The scenes, on two tiers are separated by bands of rosettes. The carvings are distinguished by dramatic sentiment and tragic grandeur. There are few parallels for the present diptych, although the iconographic choices can be paralleled in other rose diptychs.

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.
Associated object
521-1893 (Part)
Bibliographic references
  • Longhurst, Margaret H., Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. London: Published under the Authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929, Part II, p. 17
  • Koechlin, R., Les Ivoires Gothiques Français. Paris, A. Picard, 1924, vol I. 151
  • Koechlin, R., Gazette des Beaux Arts. xiv, 1918, p. 238
  • Randall Jr., Richard H. The Golden Age of Ivory. Gothic Carvings in North American Collections, New York, 1993 pp. 66, 70
  • 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. 244, 245
  • Catalogue of an exhibition of carvings in ivory, London : Privately printed for the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1923 104
Collection
Accession number
A.67-1925

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Record createdJanuary 8, 2004
Record URL
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