This ivory panel has been carved into three groups of carvings held within architectural niches: Jesus’s death on the cross and resurrection, the weighing of souls, and visual metaphors for Christian mystical experiences such as The Man of Sorrows and The Throne of Mercy. Together with its mate (17.190.266), it forms half of a diptych that could be used as a meditative aid during prayer. Carved through, it was likely glued to a painted parchment backing and set within a frame when first made.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
17.190.265 and .266
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Leaf from a Diptych
Date:mid to late 14th century
Culture:British
Medium:Elephant ivory
Dimensions:Overall: 7 1/16 x 4 5/8 x 3/8 in. (18 x 11.8 x 0.9 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.265
The fantastical architectural frame on this openwork ivory panel divides it into twelve scenes dedicated to the Passion of Jesus, his rule in Heaven, and his divine nature. It includes the narrative of the Passion, beginning with the Garden of Gethsemane and following his torture at the hands of the henchmen of Pontius Pilate, his death on the cross, the entombment, descent from the cross, and reappearance before Mary Magdalene and the Three Maries. The uppermost register depicts, from left to right, the Throne of Mercy, Man of Sorrows, and Last Judgement.
This complex panel is part of a large group of ivory panels carved à jour (openwork, literally "to let the light pass through") that appear to be by the same workshop, several of which are in the collection. The panel matches another representing the Life of the Virgin (acc. no. 17.190.266). These two panels form two halves of a hinged diptych dedicated to the mysteries of the Rosary. The complex frame with depressed, ogive arches with decorative cusps, spindle-thin columns, and the plated armor on the soldiers is comparable to that of an openwork panel representing the death of Thomas Becket (acc. no. 1970.324.10). The frames on all three of these panels represent buildings with miniscule brickwork and tile roofs, a feature shared with a piece of a box also in the collection (acc. no. 17.190.194). Together, this group also shares long figures with flat, paddle-like hands, and attention to fashion trends current in the years around 1400. This enigmatic group of objects has been the subject of some debate among art historians. Raymond Koechlin and Margaret Longhurst, two early researchers of medieval ivories, considered them English and to have been made around 1400, while Jap Leeuwenberg ascribed them to "The Master of the Forgeries of the Elegant Figures," and located their production in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Recent research, however, has demonstrated that the representation of armor in this group is typical of art making in England in the mid to late fourteenth century but rare on the continent, suggesting an English provenance.
The ivory panel is in excellent condition. The ivory is a bright, milky white, and it lacks the cracks and breaks that frequently mar delicate openwork ivories. On the back, the edges of the panel form a raised rim around a recessed field. The modern red velvet cloth visible from the front fills this recession and is backed with a piece of particle board. The left and right sides of the rim contain two drill holes and their faces are heavily scored, demonstrating that the panel was once bolted and glued onto a frame of metal and wood. When new, this panel and its mate therefore may have resembled the openwork diptych set in a frame of multi-color wood veneer, a method called intarsia, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. A.553-1910). Like the current panel and its mate, the Victoria and Albert example is carved into openwork and represents the Life of Christ and the Life of the Virgin, the intarsia frame and painted parchment backdrop creating a lively color contrast to the ivory.
Charles T. Little, "The Art of Gothic Ivories: Studies at the Crossroads," Sculpture Journal 23 (2014), pp. 13-29.
Paul Williamson and Glyn Davies, Glyn. Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, Part 2 (London: Victoria and Albert Museum Publishing, 2014), pp. 326-328.
Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022
[ Frédéric Spitzer (Austrian), Paris (sold 1893)]; his posthumous sale, Chevallier and Mannheim, Paris (April 17–June 16, 1893, no. 147); [ Bourgeois Frères, Cologne (in 1893, for Oppenheim)]; Baron Albert Oppenheim, Cologne(by 1904–sold 1906); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1906–1917)
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf. "Kunsthistorische Ausstellung," May 1–October 20, 1902.
La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité, Moyen-Age, Renaissance. Vol. I. Mâcon: Imprimerie Protat Frères, 1890–1891. Ivoire 113, p. 64.
Spitzer, Frédéric, ed. La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité -- Moyen-Age -- Renaissance. Vol. 1. Paris: Maison Quantin, 1890–1893. Ivoire 113, p. 62.
Schnütgen, Alexander. "Zwei durchbrochene Elfenbeintafeln aus dem Anfang des XV. Jahrh.." Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst 6, no. 4 (1893). cols. 97–98, pl. IV.
Catalogue des objets d'art et de haute curiosité: antiques, du moyen-âge & de la renaissance: composant l'importante et précieuse Collection Spitzer. Vol. 1. Paris: Chevallier and Mannheim, April 17–June 16, 1893. no. 148, p. 28, pl. III.
Catalogue officiel illustré de l'exposition retrospective de l'art français des origines à 1800. Exposition universelle de 1900. Paris: Lemercier & Cie., 1900. no. 126, 128, or 130 (?), p. 265.
Molinier, Emile. Collection du Baron Albert Oppenheim: Tableaux et objets d'art, catalogue précédé d'une introduction. Paris: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1904. no. 80, p. 35, pl. LVII.
Kehrer, Hugo. Die heiligen drei könige in literatur und kunst. Vol. 2. Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1909. pp. 218–19.
Burlington Fine Arts Club. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Carvings in Ivory. London, 1923. p. 89.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 875, pp. 324, 484.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 875, pp. 327–29.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume III, Plates. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 875, pl. CLVII.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. pp. 117–18, fig. 67, ill. p. 119.
Longhurst, Margaret H. English Ivories. London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1926. no. LXXIII, pp. 55, 111–12, pls. 49 (misidentified as in the British Museum).
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. pp. 117–18, fig. 67, ill. p. 119.
Egbert, D. D. "North Italian Gothic Ivories in the Museo Cristiano of the Vatican Library." Art Studies 7 (1929). pp. 196, 198–200, 201, fig. 56.
Rorimer, James J. "An English Woodcarving of the Late Fourteenth Century." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 25, no. 9 (September 1930). p. 188.
Natanson, Joseph. Gothic Ivories of the 13th and 14th Centuries. London: A. Tiranti, 1951. pp. 29–30, 39, fig. 63.
Warren, Jeremy. Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum: Volume 2, Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2014. pp. 594–95.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world, encompassing the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the Renaissance.
