Gothic Ivories Project | Gabled triptych, with arches (Front)

Height: 155mm; 179mm (with mount)
Width: 151mm; 162mm (with mount)
Depth: 14mm; 42mm (with mount)

Wing, left
Register 1: saint Blaise holding a wool comb and a book.
Register 2: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist; titulus.
Register 3: Unidentified bishop saint with mitre and crozier; unidentified female saint (nun) holding a cross.
Center panel
Register 1: Annunciation; twisted column.
Register 2: standing Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse). Saints under niches (left to right, top to bottom): saint Peter holding a key; saint John the Baptist holding a scroll and wearing a camel hide; saint Catherine of Alexandria holding the wheel; saint Paul holding a sword; saint James the Greater with a pilgrim's staff; saint Mary of Egypt covered in her hair.
Wing, right
Register 1: unidentified female saint (queen) holding a martyr's palm and a chalice (?).
Register 2: two unidentified male saints (monks; possibly including saint Francis holding a cross).
Register 3: Saint Christopher carrying Christ across the river. Saint Anthony abbot with a bell and a tau on his robe.
Foliated decoration. Angels on either side of the central gable.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two wire-loop hinges on either sides.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive gilding and polychromy: blue, green, red, black, gold.

Reverse
The back of the wings is painted in order to show, when closed:
Register 1: Annunciation.
Register 2: unidentified saint. Unidentified bishop saint with mitre and crozier.
The back of the centre panel is curved and divided in 5 panels outlined by 6 carved raised bands. Label with handwritten inscriptions: 'sec. XIV', '16'

Object Condition
Missing: head of the angel above the centre gable to the right; gable of the left wing.
The centrepiece is made of different pieces of ivory.

Provenance
Galerie Giorgio Sangiorgi, Palais Borghese, Rome (until 1911); collection of J. Pierpont Morgan (d. 1913), London and New York; Estate of J. Pierpont Morgan (1913-1917); gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.

Bibliography
D. D. Egbert, 'North Italian Gothic Ivories in the Museo Cristiano of the Vatican Library', in Art Studies 7 (1929), pp. 177-179, fig. 12.
P. Lesley, 'Two triptychs and a Crucifix in the Museo Cristiano of the Vatican library', in Art Bulletin, XVIII (1936), pp. 274-275, fig. 14.

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