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Triptych

1250–1260
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 304
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).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Triptych
  • Date: 1250–1260
  • Geography: Made in Possibly Picardy, Northern France
  • Culture: North French
  • Medium: Elephant ivory, paint, gilding with metal mounts
  • Dimensions: wings open: 9 1/16 × 5 1/2 × 1 3/16 in. (23 × 14 × 3 cm)
    Other (wings closed): 9 1/16 × 3 3/8 × 1 9/16 in. (23 × 8.5 × 4 cm)
  • Classification: Ivories-Elephant
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.190.279a–e
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Triptych with the Coronation of the Virgin, Elephant ivory with polychromy, gilded decoration, and metal mounts, German
Triptych with the Coronation of the Virgin
German
1325–50
Altarpiece with the Lives of Jesus, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint John the Evangelist, Baldassare degli Embriachi Italian, Bone framed with intarsia and horn, traces of paint and gilding, North Italian
Altarpiece with the Lives of Jesus, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint John the Evangelist
Baldassare degli Embriachi
ca. 1390–1400
Central Panel of a Triptych, Elephant ivory and paint, North French
Central Panel of a Triptych
North French
ca. 1280–90
Relief of the Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus, Limestone with traces of polychromy and gilding, French
Relief of the Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus
French
1264–88
Plaque with the Descent from the Cross, Elephant ivory, whale bone, traces of paint, and gilding, French
Plaque with the Descent from the Cross
French
ca. 1320–40

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