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Engaged molding on a polyptych panel

ca. 1435–40
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 956
Only the lancet top, which itself has suffered damage, survives of the engaged frame on this "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Cherubim" that John Pope-Hennessy has attributed to the Osservanza Master. Nevertheless, the narrow chamfered molding, with its arch echoing the perspective of the picture, lends an architectural strength to the enthroned Virgin and Child, and the remaining crockets still suggest stylized palm fronds arching over their heads. As the center panel of a large polyptych, the "Madonna and Child" would not originally have had engaged moldings along its sides, but would have been separated visually from its lateral panels by applied, perhaps spiral, colonettes. The lancet top was probably itself engaged to an extension of the main panel forming a triangular gable above it.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Engaged molding on a polyptych panel
  • Date: ca. 1435–40
  • Culture: Sienese
  • Medium: Poplar. Carved, gilt: deep red bole.
  • Dimensions: Overall: 56 11/16 × 27 3/16 in. (144 × 69 cm)
    Sight: 53 5/8 × 24 1/2 in. (136.2 × 62.3 cm)
  • Classification: Frames
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.41b
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

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Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Cherubim, Osservanza Master Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground, Italian, Siena
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Cherubim
Osservanza Master
1435–40
Tondo mirror frame, Italian, Siena, Poplar; carved, gilt; deep red-brown bole., Italian, Siena
Tondo mirror frame
Italian, Siena
ca. 1490–1500
Engaged arched cassetta frame and arched tabernacle frame, Poplar. Carved, gilt; orange-red bole, blue and white color, all over greenish tone., Sienese
Engaged arched cassetta frame and arched tabernacle frame
Sienese
ca. 1465 and 1490 (?)
Cassetta frame, Poplar(?). Gilt; red-orange bole., Sienese
Cassetta frame
Sienese
ca. 1450
Integral tondo molding, Single piece of poplar. Carved, gilt; brown-red bole, blue in dentil., Sienese
Integral tondo molding
Sienese
mid-15th century

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