Jacopo di Cione

With Frascione, Florence;
With Etienne Libert, Paris;
From whom acquired by the present owner by 1974.

M. Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento 1370-1400, Florence 1975, p. 324, reproduced fig. 104.

The following condition report is provided by Rebecca Gregg, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. The single member panel appeared in good condition, there was evidence of old woodworm in the panel, none of which appeared recent. There is a natural convex curve. The paint layers appear in a relatively good condition; there is a small chip in the upper right corner and a small loss located 83mm from the top edge and 10mm from the right. However there does not appear to be any recent damages or loss and the adhesion between the paint and ground layers and the support appears stable. There are areas of abrasion in evidence from a previous restoration campaign; however the majority of the gold is in very good condition with only minor losses. There is a repaired crack to the paint and ground layers running the length of the right edge and both the upper and lower edges have scored lines into the original paint layers. There is a campaign of restoration present, with some re-enforcement of the glazes and small areas of retouching scattered throughout. The over-paint, especially the re-glazing fluoresce strongly under ultra violet examination, none of these cover any significant areas There is also a series of small retouching's which do not fluoresce. There is a light layer of varnish present. The painting was examined attached to the backing board.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This charming and intimate little Adoration was painted by Jacopo di Cione, sometimes known as Robiccia, between 1365 and 1370. As suggested by Boskovits (see Literature), it is most likely a fragment of the wing of a small triptych; below it perhaps was another scene from the life of Christ while above it there may have been a depiction of the Madonna Annunciate. A simple yet effective and balanced scheme marks the X-shape of the design with the kneeling magus as its fulcrum: a diagonal line runs from the Madonna and Child down to the lower left corner as another runs from the standing magus upper left down to the sleeping Joseph lower right.

After the deaths of his brothers Andrea (called Orcagna) and Nardo, Jacopo was a crucial figure in the second part of the fourteenth century. Surviving his brothers by some 30 years and carrying on at the helm of the family workshop he extended mid-century ideals right to the very end of the 1300s. By 1370-71 records show that Jacopo received payment for his majestic altarpiece for the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence, most of whose sections are today in the National Gallery in London.¹ Two of the upper tiers show a Nativity and an Adoration of the Magi, painted in very much the same spirit as the present panel but on a much larger scale (each approximately 95.5 by 49.5 cm), presenting Jacopo with an easier platform with which to describe the space inhabited by the dramatis personae. In the present panel the reduced scale has forced Jacopo to be sparing in his depiction of the rocky background which is anyway of secondary importance in this case, unlike in the National Gallery panels where great effort is invested in presenting a rudimentary canopy and landscape, as well as depicting one of the first attempts at illumination in a night scene. The small scale has also allowed Jacopo little opportunity to explore his interest in decoration and tooling, which is limited here to the elegant wavy hair of the Magi. The simple punchwork mirrors a predella of the Beheading of Saint Paul of similar size which is also from the San Piero Maggiore altarpiece, but whose current whereabouts is unknown. Of comparable scale to the present work, the predella shows the same economy of line and straight folds, the artist's attention centred more towards the modelling of the faces and their soft features than in the elaborate adornment of the clothing, in much the same was as the present Adoration.



1. See D. Gordon, National Gallery Catalogues, The Italian Paintings Before 1400, London 2011, pp. 52-91, cat. nos. 569.1-3 and 570-8, the various sections of the altarpiece extensively reproduced in colour.
2. Ibid, reproduced in colour p. 63.
3. Ibid, reproduced p. 80, fig. 26.