The densely packed scenes on this large diptych depict an unusually rich array of New Testament events, apocryphal legends, and the lives of the saints. The sequence of events shown on the left panel beginning with the lower left row is: the Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation in the Temple, Resurrection, Descent into Hell, and Coronation of the Virgin. On the right panel, beginning with the lower row is: Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint John the Baptist, the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket, Crucifixion, Ascension, Holy Trinity, and Virgin nursing.
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Title:Diptych with Scenes of the Life of Christ and the Virgin, Saint Michael, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, and the Trinity
Date:ca. 1350
Geography:Made in Cologne, Germany
Culture:German
Medium:Elephant ivory
Dimensions:Overall (open): 10 x 8 5/16 x 3/8 in. (25.5 x 21.1 x 0.9 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1970
Accession Number:1970.324.8a, b
[ Demotte Inc., Paris and New York] ; [ Brimo de Laroussilhe, Paris] ; [ L. Daguerre, Paris ] ; [ Paula de Koenigsberg ] ; Ernst and Marthe Kofler-Truniger, Lucerne (sold 1970)
Salon Nacional de Bellas Artes, Montevideo. "Exposición de obras de arte europeo (siglo XII al XIX) Pertenecientes a la colección Paula de Koenigsberg.," June 1945.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. "Exposición de Obras Maestras. Colección Paula de Koenigsberg," October 1945.
Museo Municipal de Arte Hispano Americano. "Exposicion de arte gotico : coleccion Paula de Koenigsberg," 1947.
Museo Municipal de Arte Hispano Americano. "Exposición de Obras Maestras Siglos XII al XVII Coleccion Paula de Koenigsberg," May–July 1951.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern, Zürich," June 7–August 2, 1964.
Kunsthalle Köln. "Weltkunst au Privatbesitz," May 18–August 4, 1968.
Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux. "Profil de Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York - de Ramses á Picasso," May 15–September 1, 1981.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Images in Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age," March 9–May 11, 1997.
Walters Art Museum. "Images in Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age," June 22–August 31, 1997.
Cologne, Germany. Museum Schnütgen. "Glanz und Größe des Mittelalters: Kölner Meisterwerke aus den großen Sammlungen der Welt," November 4, 2011–February 26, 2012.
"Fourteenth Century Diptych in Ivory." Art News vol. 24 (May 1, 1926). p. 1, ill. only.
Seventh Loan Exhibition: French Gothic Art of the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Century. Detroit: The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1928. no. 57, ill.
"A Loan Exhibition of Gothic Art." The Bulletin of the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York 2, no. 2 (November–December 1929). pp. 5–6.
Loan Exhibition of Gothic Art. Rochester, N.Y.: Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, 1929. no. 25, ill. (unpaginated).
Morey, Charles Rufus. Gli oggetti di avorio e di osso del Museo Sacro Vaticano. Catalogo del Museo sacro della Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Vol. 4. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1936. p. 38, fig. 36.
Exposición de obras maestras colección Paula de Koenigsberg. Buenos Aires: Museo Municipal de Arte Hispano Americano, 1945. no. 273, p. 38, pl. CXLVI.
Exposición de Obras de Arte Europeo (Siglo XII al XIX), Pertenecientes a la Colección Paula de Koenigsberg. Montevideo: Museo Nacional de Artes Visuale, 1945. no. 97, p. 29, pl. LXXVIII.
Exposición de arte gotico: Coleccion Paula de Koenigsberg. Buenos Aires: Museo Municipal de Arte Hispano Americano, 1947. no. 69, pl. XXXV.
Exposición de obras maestras siglos XII al XVII: Coleccion Paula de Koenigsberg. Buenos Aires: Museo Municipal de Arte Hispano Americano, 1951. no. 104, p. 24, pl. LVI.
Schnitzler, Hermann, ed. Große Kunst des Mittelalters aus Privatbesitz. Cologne: Museum Schnütgen, 1960. no. 28, pp. 23–24, pl. 18.
Bloch, Peter. "Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern: Ausstellung im Kunsthaus Zürich vom 7. Juni bis 1. September." Kunstchronik 17 (October 1964). pp. 264–65, 280, fig. 6a.
Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern: Ausstellung. Zurich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1964. no. 725, p. 78, pl. 71.
Lasko, Peter. "A Notable Private Collection." Apollo 79, no. 28 (June 1964). ill. on cover.
Schnitzler, Hermann, Peter Bloch, and W. F. Volbach. Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern: Skulpturen – Elfenbein, Perlmutter, Stein, Holz; europäisches Mittelalter. Vol. 1. Lucerne: Verlag Räber & Cie, 1964. no. 62, p. 22.
Bloch, Peter, Hermann Schnitzler, Charles Ratton, and W. F. Volbach. "Mittelalterliche Kunst der Sammlung Kofler-Truniger, Luzern." Aachener Kunstblätter 31 (1965). pp. 21–22.
Kunsthalle Köln. Weltkunst aus Privatbesitz. Cologne: Museen der Stadt Köln, 1968. no. D 11, (unpaginated).
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "One Hundred First Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1970 through June 30, 1971." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 101 (1971). p. 21.
The New York Times. "Metropolitan Museum Acquires 13 Outstanding Medieval Ivories." The New York Times (December 1, 1972). p. 41.
Raggio, Olga, ed. Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965-1975; Explanatory Texts. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. p. 17.
Profil du Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York, de Ramsès à Picasso. Paris: Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, 1981. no. 63, pp. 64–65.
Barnet, Peter, ed. Images In Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1997. no. 42, pp. 200–1.
Little, Charles T. "Gothic Ivory Carving in Germany." In Images In Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, edited by Peter Barnet. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1997. no. 42, p. 83, detail ill. p. 80.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 55, pp. 92, 196.
Little, Charles T. "Kölner Elfenbeinschnitzereien der Gotik: viele offene Fragen." In Glanz und Größe des Mittelatters: Kölner Meisterwerke aus den großen Sammlungen der Welt, edited by Dagmar Täube, and Miriam Verena Fleck. München: Hirmer Verlag, 2011. pp. 83–85, fig. 1, 3, 4, 6.
Täube, Dagmar, and Miriam Verena Fleck, ed. Glanz und Größe des Mittelalters: Kölner Meisterwerke aus den großen Sammlungen der Welt. Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2011. no. 27, pp. 272–73.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniversary ed. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 94.
Williamson, Paul, and Glyn Davies. Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200–1550. Vol. 1. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014. pp. 301, 349.
Ciseri, Ilaria, ed. Gli avori del Museo nazionale del Bargello. Milan: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, 2018. p. 247.
Musée du Louvre Antoine-Köning, Élisabeth. "Quatre Ivoires Gothiques de L'Ancienne Collection Kofler-Truniger." La Revue des Musées de France: Revue du Louvre 3 (2019). p. 11, fig. 1.
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