Originally the central panel of a triptych, this ivory has a cavity below the Entombment scene that may indicate its function as a reliquary for pieces of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Center Panel of a Triptych with the Crucifixion and the Entombment
Date:ca. 1100
Geography:Made in Amalfi
Culture:South Italian
Medium:Ivory
Dimensions:Overall: 8 7/8 x 4 1/8 x 9/16 in. (22.5 x 10.4 x 1.4 cm)
Classification:Ivories
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.43
[ Amedeo Canessa, Paris (sold 1911)]; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1911–1913)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century," November 19, 1977–February 12, 1978.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Glory of Byzantium," March 11–July 6, 1997.
Paderborn, Germany. Diözesanmuseum Paderborn. "Canossa 1077: Erschütterung der Welt. Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur am Aufgang der Romanik," July 21, 2006–November 5, 2006.
Salerno, Italy. Museo Diocesano di San Matteo. "L'enigma degli avori medievali da Amalfi a Salerno," December 20, 2007–April 30, 2008.
Breck, Joseph. "Pre-Gothic Ivories in the Pierpont Morgan Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 15, no. 1 (January 1920). p. 16.
Goldschmidt, Adolph. Die Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der romanischen Zeit, XI.-XIII. Jahrhundert. Vol. 4. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1926. no. 143, pp. 3, 42, pl. LI.
Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Vol. 1. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1927. pp. 92–93.
Cook, Walter W.S. "Review: 'Die Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der romanischen Zeit (XI.-XIII. Johrhundert)' by Adolph Goldschmidt." The Art Bulletin 10, no. 3 (March 1928). p. 287, (as no. 143).
Kessler, Herbert L. "An Eleventh Century Ivory Plaque from South Italy and the Cassinese Revival." Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 8 (1966). pp. 75–76, fig. 9.
Bergman, Robert P. "A School of Romanesque Ivory Carving in Amalfi." Metropolitan Museum Journal 9 (1974). pp. 163–86, fig. 37.
Bergman, Robert P. The Salerno Ivories: Ars Sacra from Medieval Amalfi. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980. pp. 144–45, fig. 175.
Hürkey, Edgar J. Das Bild des Gekreuzigten im Mittelalter: Untersuchungen zu Gruppierung, Entwicklung und Verbreitung anhand der Gewandmotive. Worms: Werner'sche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1983. no. 290, p. 235, fig. 290.
Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom, ed. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. no. 326, pp. 446, 491–92.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires Médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003. p. 212, fig. 60c.
Franco Mata, María Angela. "Liturgia hispánica y marfiles: Talleres de León y San Millán de la Cogolla en el siglo XI." Codex aquilarensis: Cuadernos de investigación del Monasterio de Santa María la Real 22 (2006). p. 103 n. 48.
Stiegemann, Christoph, and Matthias Wemhoff, ed. Canossa 1077: Erschütterung der Welt: Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur am Aufgang der Romanik. Volume 2: Catalogue. Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2006. no. 387, p. 280.
Bologna, Ferdinando, ed. L'enigma degli avori medievali da Amalfi a Salerno. Vol. 2. Pozzuoli: Paparo Edizioni, 2008. no. 76, pp. 444–45.
Galán y Galindo, Ángel. "El marfil y el comercio medieval Mediterráneo." Arte, Arqueología e Historia 19 (2012). p. 42.
Eastmond, Antony. "On Diversity in Southern Italy." In The Salerno Ivories: Objects, Histories, Contexts, edited by Francesca Dell’Acqua, Anthony Cutler, Herbert L. Kessler, Avinoam Shalem, and Dr. Gerhard Wolf. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2016. p. 99, fig. 1.
Kitzinger, Beatrice E., and Cambridge University Press. The cross, the Gospels, and the work of art in the Carolingian Age. Cambridge, 2019. p. 277 (p. 189 n. 43).
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