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Diptych, 2 registers, 3 arches across (frise d'arcatures); known as the Eskdale Diptych (Wing, right)
Diptych, 2 registers, 3 arches across (frise d'arcatures); known as the Eskdale Diptych (Wing, right)
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Front

Wing, left

Front

Links

Subject
Religious. Life of Christ.


Unknown location

S/n

Ivory

Height: 121mm
Width: 57mm (each)

Wing, left
Register 1: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist.
Register 2: Adoring Magi (part of the Adoration of the Magi continued on the right wing).
Wing, right
Register 1: Entombment (Anointing of Christ's body).
Register 2: Seated Virgin and Child; two angels holding the curtains; Christ walking on the bench shaped like a tomb; bench decorated with diamond patterns.
Rounded trefoils in the spandrels.

'The late Lord Crawford saw this Ivory years ago when I borrowed it to show at an archeological meeting in this neighbourhood; he placed it as early 14th century work' (letter from M.C. Fair to George Zarnecki, dated 26 November 1951; Conway Library).


Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Traces of two missing hinges.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of gilding and polychromy.

Comments
This piece was exhibited at the 1950 Festival of Britain Historical Exhibition at Carlisle where is was shown in a case with eth Duke of Northumberland's Rudge Cup' (letter from M.C. Fair to George Zarnecki, dated 26 November 1951; Conway Library).

Provenance
Found c. 1870 'during the demolition of an ancient farmstead on the south side of the river Esk (in the parish of Birker), known as Spot How, occasionally spelt Spot Hal or Hall in registers, etc.', close to the sheep-farm of the Furness Abbey monks, at Butterelkeld ; from 19th century-20th century (at least till 1928), Spot How belonged to the Benson family (see Fair 1928). Private collection, Eksdale (Cumberland) in 1928. 'the property of two ladies living near here [Eksdale, in Cumberland]'(letter from M.C. Fair to George Zarnecki, dated 26 November 1951; Conway Library). Sotheby's, London, 13 April 1978, lot 27.

Bibliography
M. Fair, 'Two Medieval Ivory Diptychs', in The Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarians and Archaelogical Society 28 (1928), pp. 393-395.


Image

Conway Library © Courtauld Institute of Art.

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