France du Nord ou Rhenanie, troisieme quart du XIVe siecle

Collection du Révérend Herbert Barnett, Bracknell Vicarage, Berkshire, Angleterre 
Collection Ernest C. Innes, Angleterre 
Collection E. L. Paget, vente Sotheby's, Londres, 11 octobre 1949, lot 80

Burlington Fine Arts Club, Londres, 1923.

Exhibition of Carvings in Ivory, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Londres, 1923, no.117.

 

Finely and deeply carved this panel is in overall good condition with minor wear consistant with age. Surface dirt in the crevices. A few fine hairline vertical fissures to the back plate and outer rim. Traces of hinge mounts visible on left hand side.
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Ce feuillet droit d'un diptyque est divisé en deux registres dont chaque scène se déroule sous trois arcs trilobés soulignés de crochets. Dans le registre supérieur, le Couronnement de la Vierge: le Christ bénissant et la Vierge, assis, sont tournés l'un vers l'autre, flanqués de deux anges agenouillés thuriféraires; au-dessus de la scène, trois anges en buste émergent de la partie supérieure des arcs, deux ont les mains jointes, le troisième tient la couronne de la Vierge. Dans le registre inférieur, sont représentés l'Adoration des Mages avec la Vierge et l'enfant assis à droite.

Ce diptyque peut être mis en relation avec le diptyque de la Vie de la Vierge du musée de l'art de Toledo (inv. no 50.299; Randall, 1993, no. 107), attribué à un atelier Flamand et daté du troisième quart du XIVème siècle. On y retrouve la triple arcature avec les trois anges surmontant la scène du Couronnement. Un diptyque complet avec le feuillet gauche illustrant le Christ en croix et la Nativité est conservé au Victoria and Albert Museum de Londres (Koechlin, 1924, no. 320). Il est probable que le feuillet manquant de notre diptyque représentait cette même iconographie mariale.

REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES
R. Koechlin, Les ivoires gothiques français, Paris, 1924, no. 320.
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory, Gothic Ivories in American Collections, New York, 1993, no.107.

NORTHERN FRENCH OR RHENISH, THIRD QUARTER 14TH CENTURY 
AN IVORY DIPTYCH PANEL WITH THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN AND THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI 

This right-hand leaf of a diptych is carved in two registers with each scene beneath three crocketted, rounded arches. In the upper register the Virgin and Christ are seated facing each other with His right hand raised in benediction. They are flanked by two kneeling candle bearing angels, with an angel with a crown and two further praying angels above. In the lower register is the Adoration of the Magi with the Virgin and Child seated to the right.

The diptych illustrating the life of the Virgin in the Toledo Museum of Art (inv. no. 50.299), illustrated by Randall, provides a close comparison with the present leaf. The Toledo diptych is identified as Flemish and dated to the third quarter of the 14th Century. It includes the motif of three angels in the sky above the Coronation. The left-hand leaf illustrates the Nativity and Crucifixion. This iconography is also found in a diptych in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Koechlin. Therefore it is probable that the missing left leaf of the present diptych would have repeated this Marian scheme.