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Gabled polyptych, with arches (tabernacle; colonnettes; frise d'arcatures) (Front (open))

Gabled polyptych, with arches (tabernacle; colonnettes; frise d'arcatures) (Front (open))
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Subject
Religious. Infancy of Christ.

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Madrid, Museo Lázaro Galdiano

Inv. 5704

Ivory;wood;metal (hinges)

Height: 535mm
Width: 155mm (closed)
Depth: 8mm (wings, include wood case); 80mm (centre panel)

Wings, left
Register 1: souls of the blessed received in heaven by angels; angel blowing a trumpet (part of the Last Judgement scene continued on the upper register of the centre panel and right wings).
Register 2: Nativity with Joseph holding Christ; Visitation.
Register 3: kneeling Virgin (part of the Last Judgement scene on the upper register of the centre panel); two adoring Magi (part of the Adoration of the Magi continued on the lower register of the centre panel).
Centre panel
Register 1: Christ displaying his wounds (forms a Last Judgement scene with other elements on the wings; Christ in Glory). Angels holding Instruments of the Passion (nails, spear, cross).
Register 2: seated Virgin and Child (Vierge glorieuse); two angels holding candlesticks.
Inscription on the base: 'AVE MARIA GRACIA'.
Wings, right
Register 1: angel blowing a trumpet; souls of the damned thrown into the mouth of Hell; demons carrying souls on their shoulders.
Register 2: Presentation in the Temple; Joseph holding a candle and a basket of doves brought as offerings.
Register 3: angel holding a scroll (Archangel Gabriel, part of an Annunciation scene?); female figure holding a candlestick; kneeling saint John the Evangelist or saint John the Baptist (part of the Last Judgement scene).


Koechlin Number: 0174

Bode 1897: French, 14th century.
Koechlin 1924: France, 2nd third of 14th century.
Camps Cazorla 1949-1950: French, 14th century.
Camón Aznar 1951: Venetian or Sienese, 15th century.


Attribution
Unknown

Hinges
Two sets of three ring hinges on either side.

Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive gilding and polychromy: gold, green and red (painted decoration including medallions, trefoils and quatrefoils on the architectural framework and on the base which features a fleur-de-lys and swastikas), gold (patterns along the hems, hair and beards), black (shoes), red (clothes, inside the Virgin's veil, blood, lips), blue (lining of Christ's cloak, etc.).Painted inscription on the base of the Virgin's throne: 'AVE MARIA GRACIA'.

Reverse
Wooden case. Green paint. Labels with inscriptions: 'LARGE POLYPTYCH ALTAR/ French, XIV century/ Colln STEIN/ do HAINAUER 141', '26448'. Label with Hainauer monogram ('O h') and inscription: 'Eb. 12' (repeated on the lower moulding on the left side of the base).

Object Condition
Part of the crockets on the left hand-side gable of the centre panel, the left hand-side angel in the upper register of the centre panel and the wing of one of the angels have become detached.
Missing: part of the candle held by the angel to the left of the seated Virgin and Child; parts of the angels' wings. The pinnacles, colonnettes and parts of the Virgin's and of Christ's throne seem to be later replacements.

Comments
The background of the centre panel is decorated with a stippled gold pattern of foliage. Some inconsistencies in the iconography seem to indicate that some of the reliefs have been rearranged.

Provenance
Collection of Charles Stein, Paris (see label on the back): sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1886, lot 23 (with ill.). Collection of Oscar Hainauer (b. 1840s?, d. 1894), Berlin (Inv. Eb. 12). Collection of José Lázaro Galdiano, Paris.

Bibliography
W. Bode, Die Sammlung Oscar Hainauer (Berlin, 1897), no. 141.
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, p. 132; II, no. 174 (no location given).
E. Camps Cazorla, Inventario del Museo Lázaro Galdiano (1949-1950, unpublished).
J. Camón Aznar, Guía abreviada del Museo Lázaro Galdiano (Madrid, 1951), pp. 22-23.


Image

© Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid - 2013.

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