France du Nord, vers 1350-1370

charnières en argent

Par tradition Joseph Homberg, 
(cependant il ne figure pas à sa vente Sotheby's, Londres du 19 juillet 1949) 

Hinges replaced but at an early date and there is minor loss and repair around both hinges with several earlier pin holes for fixing above top hinge. Both on the exterior and interior there is considerable surface dirt with vertical hairline fissures in the grain of the ivory which are discoloured. Later silver catch dating probably from the 17th century in the form of a dolphin. Left Panel: Upper section of candles held by angels missing. Right Panel: Small section of bottom edge below the cross missing and minor crack to Christs foot.
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Chaque scène est placée sous un arc trilobé, surmonté d'un tympan bordé de crochets feuillus, les écoinçons ornés de trèfles. A gauche, se tient la Vierge à l'Enfant, flanquée de deux anges debout thuriféraires. L' Enfant regarde tendrement sa mère qui tient un lys. A droite, la Crucifixion forme le pendant: le Christ, couronné et sur une croix en bois massif, est entouré par la Vierge douloureuse et saint Jean; au dessus de la croix, la lune et le soleil émergent du lobe central de l'arc.

L'iconographie de ce diptyque est très proche de celle de deux diptyques du Musée du Louvre (inv. no. OA 9960 et OA 2601), attribués à un atelier parisien. Cependant l'attitude de la Vierge, la forme des anges portant des chandeliers et le style des crochets renvoient plutôt vers un atelier du Nord de la France, origine que proposa Randall pour un diptyque de style comparable conservé dans la collection Malcove à Toronto (Randall, 1993, no. 112).

REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux Ve - XVe siècle, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2003, no. 162 et 166.
R. H. Randall, The Golden Age of Ivory, Gothic Carvings in North American Collections, New York, 1993, no. 112.

NORTHERN FRENCH, CIRCA 1350-1370
AN IVORY DIPTYCH WITH THE VIRGIN IN GLORY AND THE CRUCIFIXION 

Each panel is carved with a trilobate arch surmounted by foliate crockets and towers and  two trefoils in the spandrels. The left leaf is carved with the Virgin and Child flanked by two candle-bearing acolytes with the Child tenderly looking up at His mother who holds a lily in her left hand, whilst the right leaf has Christ nailed to a rugged cross flanked by the Virgin in sorrow and St. John gazing upwards, with the sun and moon above.

The present piece may be compared with two diptychs in the Louvre (inv.no. 0A9660 and OA 2601), both attributed to a Paris workshop. However, the stance of the Virgin, and the candle-bearing angels leaning into the framework as well as the inclusion of  the crocketted towers surmounting the trilobate arch suggest a more northern origin for this diptych. This composition is comparable with the similar diptych leaf with the Virgin and Child in the Malcove Collection, Toronto illustrated by Randall (1993) no. 112 and there attributed to Northern France.