German, late 14th century

Karl Ludwig Maria, Fürst Fugger von Babenhausen, Fuggerhaus, Augsburg, before 1892

F. Höfle, Museum Fuggerianum. 50 Tableaux der in dem Besitze Seiner Durchlaucht des Fürsten Karl Ludwig Maria Fugger-Babenhausen sich befindenden Schätze. Alterthümer, Kostbarkeiten und kunstgewerbliche Gegenstände, so in dem altberühmten Fuggerhaus in Augsburg aufbewahrt sind, Augsburg, 1892

The ivory is in two sections, two scenes from the left side of the right panel are lost. There may be a few smaller losses, including to some of the hands and sleeves of a few of the figures. On the reverse of the left section slots for a joint or hinges remain. A small peg is slotted into the right side. There is some stable hairline splitting consistent with the material. Otherwise the condition is good with minor dirt and wear consistent with age. The frame is slightly warped around the edges.
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These two plaques were originally part of a diptych which was in the collection of the Fugger family of Augsburg. Each of the leaves were divided into two registers and each episode was separated by a twisted column and surmounted by a triple trefoil arch with crockets. Beginning from the bottom left were the Entry into Jerusalem, Last Supper, Foot Washing, Garden of Gethsemane, Kiss of Judas, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Majesty. At some stage after the illustration for Höfle's photographic survey of the Museum Fuggerianum in 1892 (op.cit.) was made, the left side of the right leaf with the Resurrection and Foot Washing was probably damaged and cut down.

An ivory tablet with similarly composed scenes of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Kiss of Judas divided by nearly identical twisted columns is in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (inv. no. 71.192). Randall (1985, op.cit., no. 341) tentatively attributes the tablet to a Flemish workshop active in the last quarter of the 14th century. Other reliefs described by Randall (1993, op.cit., nos. 109-111)  as Flemish have comparable beaded borders. However, the chip carving, treatment of different textures and the particular composition of these scenes are details often attributed to German schools (see Barnet, op.cit. and Sotheby's Paris, Collection Dormeuil, 19 November 2007, lot 15).

RELATED LITERATURE
R. H. Randall (ed.), Masterpieces of ivory from the Walters Art Gallery, cat. Walters Art Gallery Baltimore, London, 1985, pp. 230-231, no. 341; R.H. Randall, The golden age of ivory. Gothic carvings in North American collections, New York, 1995, pp. 91-92, nos. 109 and 111; P. Barnet (ed.), Images in ivory. Precious objects of the Gothic age, exhib. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts, Princeton, 1997, pp. 206-209, nos. 45-46