Diptych with the Nativity and the Mass of Saint Gregory

early 16th century

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 306

Among the more than 130 miniature boxwood carvings that have survived, this is the only diptych. While the subjects are not unusual, the inscriptions are particularly complex, drawing on the writings of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and other theologians.

By tradition, it is said that this piece belonged to Queen Christina of Spain in the nineteenth century. It may reflect her Habsburg ancestors’ taste for miniature boxwood carvings from the Netherlands, a territory they ruled at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Artwork Details

Title: Diptych with the Nativity and the Mass of Saint Gregory
Date: early 16th century
Culture: Netherlandish
Medium: Boxwood
Dimensions: Open: 3 1/4 × 3 1/2 × 9/16 in. (8.3 × 8.9 × 1.5 cm)
Closed: 3 1/4 × 1 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (8.3 × 4.5 × 3.2 cm)
Classification: Sculpture-Miniature-Wood
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.476
Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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