Man of Sorrows; Christ displaying his wounds; Virgin crying; saint John the Evangelist; two angels holding a large cloth of honour; scroll with a painted inscription.
Koechlin 1924: German, 2nd half of 15th century.
Little et al 1999: South German, c. 1500.
Museum's opinion 2011: South German, c. 1500.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Extensive traces of polychromy and gilding: blue with gold patterns (Virgin's cloak), red with gold patterns (saint John's cloak and tunic), red (frame; blood), green with gold patterns (cloth of honour), green (book; crown of thorns), grey (Virgin's veil; loincloth), dark red with gold patterns (tunics of the angels; wings), gold (hair), brown (hair). Gold scroll with black inscription.
Reverse
Not viewed.
Object Condition
Some polychromy worn.
Comments
The composition is based on a famous engraving by Martin Schongauer.
Provenance
Collection of the prince of Wallerstein-Oettingen, Wallerstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany (in 1924). Mr. and Mrs. Rudigier-Ruckert, Munich: sold to the Museum in 1999.
Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 359-60; II, no. 980; III, pl. CLXXI.
Charles T. Little, Peter Barnet, Barbara Drake Boehm, Helen C. Evans and Timothy B. Husband, 'Recent Acquisitions: A Selection 1998-1999' in Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin Vol. 57, No. 2 (Autumn 1999), pp. 14-22, p. 22.
Spiegel der Seligkeit: Privates Bild und Frömmigkeit im Spätmittelalter, exhibition catalogue, Nuremberg, 2000, pp. 84-96, ill. p. 90.
P. Barnet, 'An Ivory Relief of the Man of Sorrows in New York', in The Sculpture Journal, vol. IV (2000), pp. 1-5.
P. Barnet and N. Wu, The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture (New York, 2005), no. 113.
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