Gothic Ivories Project | Gabled polyptych, 2 registers, 1 arch across (tabernacle; frise d'arcatures) (Front)

Wings, left
Register 1: Annunciation; dove of the Holy Spirit; vase of lilies; Virgin with hands crossed on her chest.
Register 2: Adoration of the Shepherd or Adoration of Christ Child (Nativity).
Centre panel
Seated Virgin and Child; Christ standing on the Virgin's left knee; Christ in long robe; Christ holding a fruit in his left hand; crown.
Wings, right
Register 1: Nativity with Virgin holding Christ; hanging lamp.
Register 2: Presentation in the Temple; Virgin holding Christ.
Crosshatched background.

Museum's opinion 2012: Belgium (Tournai?), 14th century.
Rotterdam 2012: Southern Netherlands, c. 1400.

Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two sets of two ring hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy: green (architectural details)

Reverse
Flat and smooth. Pierced by two holes in top of centre panel.

Object Condition
Part of plinth on centre panel broken on the left.
Missing: pinnacles on centre panel; right hand of the Virgin (replaced).

Comments
The Christ Child seems to be missing from the Adoration scene on the left wings.

Provenance
Sale, Paris, 16 November 1965, lot 189. Collection of Peter and Irene Ludwig, Aachen (purchased from the Blumka Gallery, New York, in 1964); their donation to the Museum in 1977.

Bibliography
E. G. Grimme, Führer durch das Suermondt-Museum, Aachen. Skulpturen - Gemälde - Schatzkunst - Kunsthandwerk (Aachen, 1966), no. 67.
E. G. Grimme, 'Die Schenkung Peter und Irene Ludwig für das Suermondt-Museum', in Aachener Kunstblätter 51 (1982), no. 44, p. 42.
S. Kemperdick, F. Lammertse, The Road to Van Eyck, exhibition catalogue, Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, 2012, p. 73, fig. 7.

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