The ivory figures are mounted on a sheet of whalebone. This plaque is part of a series of Passion carvings that are now dispersed among Antwerp, Oslo, Paris, London, and New York. The entire sequence was probably once set in an architectural frame, forming an altar frontal.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Plaque with the Descent from the Cross
Date:ca. 1320–40
Geography:Made in probably Paris, France
Culture:French
Medium:Elephant ivory, whale bone, traces of paint, and gilding
Dimensions:Overall: 9 1/8 x 7 3/16 x 13/16 in. (23.2 x 18.3 x 2.1 cm)
Classifications:Ivories-Elephant, Ivories-Whale
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.199
Count Girolamo Possenti de Fabriano (Italian), Florence; sale of Count Girolamo Possenti de Fabriano (Italian), Florence (April 1-10, 1880, no. 41); Rodolphe Hirsch Kann, Paris; Bligny, Paris; Georges Hoentschel (French); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York
National Gallery of Canada. "Art and the Courts: France and England from 1259 to 1328," April 28–July 2, 1972.
Pavillon de Marsan, Palais du Louvre. "Les Fastes du Gothique: Le Siècle de Charles V," October 1981–January 1982.
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.
Catalogue d'objets d'art et de curiosité, formant la collection de feu Mr. le Comte Girolamo Possenti de Fabriano. Florence: Raffaele Dura, April 1-10, 1880. no. 41, p. 7.
Koechlin, Raymond. "Les retables français en ivoire du commencement du XIVe siècle." Monuments et mémoires 13, no. 25 (1906). pp. 68–69, fig. 2.
Kann, Rodolphe. Catalogue of the Rodolphe Kann Collection: Objets d'Art. Vol. 1. Paris, 1907. no. 18, p. 11.
Pératé, André. Collections Georges Hoentschel: Ivoires, orfèvrerie religieuse, pierres. Vol. 2. Paris: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1911. no. 33, fig. XXVI.
"J. P. Morgan to Bring Hoentschel Treasures Here." The New York Times (February 11, 1912). p. 13, ill.
Guide to the Loan Exhibition of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1914. p. 32, illus.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 227, pp. 142, 143, 144.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 227, p. 96.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume III, Plates. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 227, pl.LIX.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. pp. 90, 110, fig. 60, ill. p. 109.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. pp. 90, 110, fig. 60, ill. p. 109.
Rorimer, James J. Ultra-Violet Rays and their Use in the Examination of Works of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931. p. 29, fig. 18, ill. on frontispiece.
Rorimer, James J., and William Holmes Forsyth. "The Medieval Galleries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 12, no. 6 (February 1954). p. 143.
Beeson, Nora B., ed. Guide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. no. 55, p. 223, fig. 55.
Verdier, Philippe, Peter Brieger, and Marie Farquhar Montpetit, ed. Art and the Courts: France and England from 1259-1328. Vol. 2. Ottowa: National Gallery of Canada, 1972. no. 79, pp. 128–29, pl. 104.
Verdier, Philippe, Peter Brieger, and Marie Farquhar Montpetit, ed. Art and the Courts: France and England from 1259-1328. Vol. 1. Ottowa: National Gallery of Canada, 1972. no. 79, pp. 158–59.
Parker, Elizabeth C. The Descent from the Cross: Its Relation to the Extra-Liturgical "Depositio" Drama. Outstanding dissertations in the fine arts. New York: Garland Publishing, 1978. p. 39 n. 110, (as Koechlin no. 227).
Baron, Françoise, ed. Les fastes du Gothique: Le siècle de Charles V. Paris: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1981. no. 137, p. 181, ill. p. 180.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. "Nicodème travesti: La Descente de Croix d'ivoire du Louvre." Revue de l'Art 81 (1988). p. 41, fig. 37.
Barnet, Peter, ed. Images In Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1997. no. 20, pp. 150–53.
Boehm, Barbara Drake, Abigail Quandt, and William D. Wixom. Das Stundenbuch der Jeanne d'Evreux / The Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux / Le Livre d'Heures de Jeanne d'Evreux: Commentary. Lucerne: Faksimile Verlage Luzern, 2000. p. 251, fig. 49.
Tomasi, Michele. Monumenti d'avorio: I dossali degli Embriachi e i loro committenti. Studi, Vol. 16. Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2010. pp. 4–5, 177.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012. p. 194.
Williamson, Paul, and Glyn Davies. Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200–1550. Vol. 1. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014. pp. 115–19, fig. 1.
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