Folding Shrine with Virgin and Child

This folding shrine represents the seated figure of the Virgin Mary beneath a Gothic baldachin and surrounded by moveable wings. It is unusually small for carvings of this type, and modifications to the iconography demonstrate the care that ivory carvers took to modify style and iconography when faced with a challenge such as working on a small scale. Conventionally for the type, Mary holds Jesus, depicted as a standing toddler, in her lap. Jesus raises his hand in benediction and Mary holds a flower in her right hand, an evocation of her purity and a reference to the flower growing among thorns in the Song of Songs. Also, typical for carvings of this type, the central image is carved so deeply that it appears to be a statuette carved in the round when seen from the front, but inspection of the side shows it to be engaged and carved out of the same block of ivory as the baldachin above Mary’s head. The interiors of the wings depict scenes from the pregnancy of Mary and the early life of Jesus. The scenes follow the predictable layout of polyptych tabernacles made in France during the fourteenth century. It begins with the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary, the Visitation of Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, the Adoration of the Magi, the Nativity, and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. As in most folding ivory shrines, the three kings break the walls of their enclosure and direct their veneration at the Virgin and Child in the center, framing these figures from the Christian story as doubles for the medieval devotees who would have used the image of the Virgin and Child to help direct their own prayers to Mary and Jesus. The placement of the scene of the Visitation across the two panels of the left modifies the usual pattern, an adjustment governed by the extreme narrowness of the inner panel.

The wings fold over the central carving by means of interlocking iron loops to form a protective enclosure for the central image. This door-like mechanism led ivory carvers to develop the folding shrine into a miniature architectural conceit. A cusped Gothic arch frames each register and each of the wing panels forms wall surmounted crocketed gable. When closed, they align to the central baldachin to form the semblance of a small shrine with a pitched, cruciform roof. The roofline of the central baldachin does not support pinnacles. The lack of obviously shaved off sections or dowel holes suggest it was never so adorned. Like the changes to the composition of the low-relief scenes, these adjustments to a received model demonstrates the ivory carvers’ flexibility. These changes too were probably governed by the small scale of the work, where small elements like pinnacles would represent a challenge for the carver and potential weak points that would be liable to break. Currently, the polyptych features a warm, brown patina and shows signs of several alterations. Three dowel holes and a dense network of scratches on the bottom of the central carving demonstrate it was once pegged and glued to a base similar to another in collection (acc. no. 30.95.115). A small hole on the front wing on the proper right is of more obscure origin. Fragments of a sticker remain on the back. The carving is in excellent condition save for a missing chunk on the proper left of the central carving, damage that was likely caused by the hinges.

While the miniature folding ivory shrine represents an easily recognizable form, the poor preservation of larger objects has obscured their affinity with larger representations of the Virgin and Child. The central part of tabernacle polyptychs normally survive in excellent condition by virtue of their carving from a single piece of ivory. While larger statues of the Virgin and Child carved in the round do not normally preserve canopies, flat backings and pegs occasionally demonstrate that some were once endowed with a framework similar to those of smaller tabernacle polyptych (see for example, Victoria and Albert Museum inv. nos. 202-1867; 206-1867; 207-1867). Archival evidence also demonstrates that other large ivory statuettes of the Virgin and Child, such as the Saint Denis statue now preserved in the Taft Museum in Cincinnati, formed centerpieces of a large folding shrine. There was likely, therefore, a continuum between the final effect of miniature shrines like the current example and larger-scale, multi-part sculptural ensembles carved out of numerous pieces of ivory and normally found in elite clerical institutions like monasteries and cathedrals.

Further reading:

John Lowden and John Cherry, Medieval Ivories and works of Art: The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto: Skylet Publishing/The Art Gallery of Ontario, 2008), pp. 59-61.

Sarah M. Guérin, "Meaningful Spectacles: Gothic Ivories Staging the Divine," The Art Bulletin, Vol. 95 (March 2013), pp. 53-77.


Paul Williamson and Glyn Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, Part 1 (Victoria and Albert Museum Publishing, 2014), pp. 137-158.



Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022

[ Durlacher Brothers, London (sold 1902)]; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1902–1917)

Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. "Transformations of the Court Style: Gothic art in Europe, 1270 to 1330," February 2, 1977–February 27, 1977.

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University. "The Carver's Art: Medieval Sculpture in Ivory, Bone, and Horn," September 9-November 21, 1989.

Catalogue of the important collection of early English & foreign silver and silver-gilt plate: Bijouterie and objects of art of Dunn-Gardner, Esq.. London: Christie, Manson and Woods, April 29–30, 1902. no. 60.

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. 463–65, ill.

Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 142, pp. 125,127,128.

Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 142, p. 63.

Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume III, Plates. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 142, pl. XXXVIII.

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. XVII, p. 193, fig. 15.

Gillerman, Dorothy, ed. Transformations of the Court Style: Gothic Art in Europe, 1270 to 1330. Providence: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1977. no. 16, pp. 56–57.

Schwartz, Sheila. "St. Joseph in Meister Bertram's Petri-Altar." Gesta 24, no. 2 (1985). p. 148, fig. 4.

St. Clair, Archer, and Elizabeth Parker McLachlan, ed. The Carver's Art: Medieval Sculpture in Ivory, Bone, and Horn. New Brunswick, N.J.: Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, 1989. no. 11, pp. 39–40.

Randall Jr., Richard H. The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Carvings in North American Collections. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1993. p. 52.

Bleeke, Marian. "Ivory and Whiteness." Different Visions: New Perspectives on Medieval Art 6 (2020). pp. 12–3.