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Artwork Details
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Title:Diptych with the Glorification of the Virgin and the Crucifixion
Date:14th century
Culture:French
Medium:Elephant ivory with metal mounts
Dimensions:Open: 7 × 5 in. (17.8 × 12.7 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.198
This diptych is composed of two panels of ivory articulated with metal hinges, so that it can open and close like a book. The backs of the panels are smooth, revealing the vertical orientation of the ivory grain. The interior is carved with two scenes against a flat backdrop and beneath a canopy that rises from corbels into cusped gothic arches, crocketed gables, trefoil traceries, and a beaded molding. On the left panel, Mary stands, holding the infant Jesus, flanked by censing angels, an iconographic type called the Glorification of the Virgin. Mary holds a book in her right hand and props the infant Jesus on her left hip while he clutches an apple and locks gazes with Mary. The right panel represents the Crucifixion. At center, the lifeless body of Jesus hangs from the cross. To the left, Mary collapses into the arms of her female companions. On the right, Saint John the Evangelist, book in hand, turns away from the scene in grief. The carver has rendered the cross as a rough piece of wood by slashing it with a chisel. Behind it at the top are two disks representing, on left the sun, and on right the moon. There are two figures behind Saint John the Evangelist whose attributes of beards, pointed hats, and scrolls identify them as Jews.
The carvings project deeply from the smooth ivory ground, producing a strong play of light and shadow. The figures show signs of wear and damage. The face of Mary is particularly affected, suggesting that users touched it during devotional exercises. The ivory also shows hairline dehydration cracks. It preserves no traces of original paint visible to the naked eye and is unpatinated. A vertical, curved stain runs down the center of each panel, crossing the figure of Mary on the left and Jesus on the right. These stains may be traces of a nerve channel, suggesting that the ivory was taken from the middle of an elephant tusk. The back shows several holes. The two at the top of the panels may have been added in the nineteenth century, when it was typical to hang ivory diptychs from the walls of art galleries. The two center holes pierce the front of the panel and may remain from an earlier hinge system. The lowest pair of holes is of unclear origin.
Further Reading:
Nina Rowe, "Pocket Crucifixions: Jesus, Jews, and Ownership in Fourteenth-Century Ivories." Studies in Iconography 32 (2011): pp. 81-120.
Sarah Lipton, Images of Intolerance: The Representation of Jews and Judaism in the Bible Moralisée (Berkley: University of California Press, 1999): pp. 16-17, 62-65.
Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022
Georges Hoentschel (French); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
San Diego Museum of Art. "5000 years of art from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 11–December 6, 1981.
Krannert Art Museum. "5000 years of art from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 3–February 16, 1982.
Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile. "5000 years of art from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 18–May 2, 1982.
Midland Art Center. "5000 years of art from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 6– August 22, 1982.
Arkansas Arts Center. "5000 years of art from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 11 - December 6, 1981; January 3 - February 16, 1982; March 18 - May 2, 1982; June 6 - August 22, 1982; September 19–November 14, 1982.
Pératé, André. Collections Georges Hoentschel: Ivoires, orfèvrerie religieuse, pierres. Vol. 2. Paris: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1911. no. 38, fig. XXXI.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 567, p. 217.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 567, pp. 217–18.
Randall Jr., Richard H. The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Carvings in North American Collections. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1993. p. 82.
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