Portable ivory shrines may have facilitated the transmission of style and composition throughout medieval Europe. This miniature example echoes larger altarpieces or tabernacles, such as those from the abbey church of Saint-Denis outside Paris and the cathedral at Pisa. Images of the Crucifixion and the Glorification of the Virgin are the central focus. The figures are flanked by the personifications Church and Synagogue (above) and by Saints Paul and Peter (below).
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This diminutive folding triptych is composed of three ivory panels joined with metal hinges. The central element was taken from the center of an elephant tusk. Inspection of the smooth back clearly reveals a vertical stain following the nerve fiber running down the tooth. The exteriors of the two wings likewise have been planed, revealing vertical grain typical of French Gothic ivories. The action of the metal hook used to close the two wings has left a circular mark on the wings. The carving on the interior of the triptych is organized into arcaded niches in two registers. In the lower register of the central panel, Mary and the infant Jesus stand between two candle-bearing angels, an iconographic type called the Glorification of the Virgin. Saints Paul and Peter, recognizable from their books, sword, and keys, occupy the lower register of the wings. On the central panel of the upper register, Mary and John the Baptist flank the crucifixion, using expressive hand gestures to express their shock and sorrow.
Dowel holes on the top of the central panel demonstrate that pinnacles once surmounted the composition. This format is typical for ivory panels of the early Gothic ivories of the "Soissons Group," of which this triptych is an example (for comparison, see Met Museum acc. nos. 17.190.276; 1970.324.6; 1975.1.1553; Victoria and Albert Museum inv. no. 175-1866). Some of the architectural details, like the figures beneath them, bear traces of paint and gilding.
In the wing above Saint Paul is Ecclessia, a personification of the triumphant Christian religion. In the right wing above Saint Peter stands Synogoga. Her broken spear, falling crown, covered eyes, and falling, twisted posture form an antitype to Ecclesia’s upright carriage and clear acknowledgement of the story of Christian redemption at the center. These paired figures illustrate the Christian theory that the Last Supper and death of Jesus overturned the Mosaic Covenant and began a new relationship between God and humans, a concept called Supersessionism. The visual trope of Ecclesia and Synogoga as witnesses to the crucifixion dates to the Carolingian period but grew in prominence with the development of Jewish communities in central and Western Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Faced with a non-conformist faith community with a vibrant economic, spiritual, and intellectual life, Christian ecclesiastical and secular rulers called upon the image of the defeated Synogoga to manifest their desire for an ideal cosmic (and therefore social) order in which Jewish communities serve as docile witnesses to Christian triumph. The iconography became common in this period in many media, from ivory carvings as the present example to manuscript illumination and architectural sculpture. The motif of Synogoga and Ecclesia features prominently in the portals of Reims, Strasbourg, and Bamberg cathedrals, providing local communities, both Christian and Jewish, with a prescriptive vision of the correct flow of power. With its architectonic decoration, this small-scale triptych recalls these sculptural programs, reformatting anti-Semitic discourses into elements of Christian doctrine and the objects of spiritual contemplation and personal devotion.
Further Reading:
Nina Rowe, The Jew, the Cathedral, and the Medieval City (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
Paul Williamson and Glynn Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550, Part 1 (London: Victoria and Albert Museum Publishing, 2014): pp. 166-169.
Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022
Michel Boy, Paris; [ Frédéric Spitzer (Austrian), Paris (sold 1893)]; his posthumous sale, Chevallier & Mannheim, Paris (April 17–June 16, 1893, no. 98); [ Charles & Cyrus Picard, Paris (from 1893)]; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
Art Museum of Southeast Texas. "Paths to Grace: A Selection of Medieval Illuminated Manuscript Leaves and Devotional Objects," September 28, 1991–January 5, 1992.
University Park, PA. Palmer Museum of Art. "Medieval Art in America: Patterns of Collecting, 1800–940," January 9, 1996–May 26, 1996.
La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité, Moyen-Age, Renaissance. Vol. I. Mâcon: Imprimerie Protat Frères, 1890–1891. Ivoire 63, p. 45.
Spitzer, Frédéric, ed. La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité -- Moyen-Age -- Renaissance. Vol. 1. Paris: Maison Quantin, 1890–1893. Ivoire 63, p. 48, ill. in text.
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. 98, p. 19, pl. III.
Molinier, Emile. Les Ivoires. Histoire générale des arts appliqués à l'industrie, Vol. 1. Paris: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1896. p. 189.
Koechlin, R. "Quelques ateliers d'ivoiriers français aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles (premier article)." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 3rd ser., 34, no. 5 (November 1905). pp. 373, 377.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 52, pp. 85,89.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 52, pp. 23–24.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume III, Plates. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 52, pl. XX.
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. pp. 28–29, fig. 23.
Morey, C.R. "Italian Gothic Ivories." In Medieval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter, edited by Wilhelm R. W. Koehler. Vol. I. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1939. no. XII, p. 186, fig. 6.
Seidel, Max. "'Opus Heburneum:' Entdeckung einer Elfenbeinskulptur von Giovanni Pisano." Pantheon 42, no. 3 (1984). pp. 223, 228, fig. 16.
Randall Jr., Richard H. Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery. Walters Art Gallery, 1985. p. 206.
Castle, Lynn P. Paths to Grace: A Selection of Medieval Illuminated Manuscript Leaves and Devotional Objects. Beaumont, Tex.: Art Museum of Southeast Texas, 1991. no. 29, pp. 9, 70–71.
Smith, Elizabeth Bradford, ed. Medieval Art in America: Patterns of Collecting, 1800–1940. University Park, Pa.: Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, 1996. no. 35, p. 150, ill. p. 11.
Gardner, Julian. "The Artistic Patronage of Boniface VIII: the Perugian Inventory of the Papal Treasure of 1311." Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana 34 (2001-2002). pp. 69–86, fig. 11.
Christiansen, Keith. "Duccio and the Origins of Western Painting." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 66, no. 1 (2008). p. 42, fig. 35.
Guerin, Sarah Margaret. "'Tears of Compunction': French Gothic Ivories in Devotional Practice." PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2009. pp. 92, 151–54, 365–66, pl. 19a–e.
Williamson, Paul, and Glyn Davies. Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200–1550. Vol. 1. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014. pp. 167–8.
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![Duccio and the Origins of Western Painting
\[adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 66, no. 1 (Summer, 2008)\]](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/cctd4ker/production/b18bbd7f1d5f1f8c4657ae78d4fbcf541b74519e-250x321.jpg?w=250&fit=crop)
