Gothic Ivories Project | Gabled triptych, 3 registers, arches (colonnettes) (Front)

Height: 200mm (centre); 198mm (wings)
Width: 100mm (centre); 48-49mm (wings)
Depth: 9mm (open)

Wing, left
Register 1: saint Paul holding a sword; angel holding a candlestick.
Register 2: apostles (part of the central Dormition scene).
Register 3: Nativity; Joseph holding Christ Child.
Centre panel
Register 1: Coronation of the Virgin; angel crowning the Virgin; two kneeling angels swinging censers; Christ making a blessing gesture.
Register 2: Death of the Virgin (Dormition); Christ holding the soul of the Virgin; Christ making a blessing gesture; apostles.
Register 3: Annunciation. Adoration of the Magi.
Wing, right
Register 1: Saint Peter holding a key; angel holding a candlestick.
Register 2: apostles (part of the central Dormition scene).
Register 3: Presentation in the Temple.

Koechlin 1924: France, 1st half of the 14th century.
Detroit 1997: French (Paris), c. 1320-1330.
Gaborit-Chopin 2003 and Museum's opinion 2010: Paris, c. 1315-1335.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two modern ring hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy (see report by A. Cascio and J. Levy, 1995).

Reverse
Engraved inscription, in cursive script, partly masked by scratches: 'Je suys.../fresne' [?]Flat, some scratches.

Object Condition
Ivory discoloured.
Missing: left wing of the angel in the Coronation of the Virgin; pinnacles on either side of the central gable; candles held by angels.Hole in the tympanum of the centre part.
Scratches for gluing a base (lost) below the centre part.

Provenance
Said to have belonged to a family from Saint-Pierre d'Albigny (Haute-Savoie), that originally came from the South of France (Koechlin 1924). Collection of marquise Arconati Visconti, Paris; gift of marquise Arconati Visconti, 1916.

Bibliography
R. Koechlin, La Collection Martin Le Roy, II, Ivoires et sculptures (Paris, 1906), fig. 4.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 141, n. 1, II, no. 219.
L. Grodecki, Ivoires français (Paris, 1947), p. 96.
O. Beigbeder, Les Ivoires (Paris, 1965), fig. 39.
Images in Ivory. Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. by Peter Barnet, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 1997, fig. 26a, p. 162.
The Image of Time. European Manuscript Books, exhibition catalogue, Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, 2000, pp. 456-457.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003), no. 153.

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