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Artwork Details
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Title:Diptych Leaf with the Resurrection and the Coronation of the Virgin
Date:1340-1360
Culture:French (Paris)
Medium:Elephant ivory
Dimensions:Overall: 4 13/16 x 2 3/8 x 3/8 in. (12.2 x 6 x 0.9 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.179
This rectangular ivory panel was once half of a religious diptych. Its back is flat, revealing the vertical orientation of the ivory grain. The front is carved into two registers of figural scenes presenting the Resurrection of Christ below and the Coronation of the Virgin above. Both scenes are surmounted with a canopy composed of corbels, cusped lancet arches, and trefoils, while a beaded frieze divides the two registers and lines the panel’s edge.
In the lower scene, Jesus emerges from his tomb, his torso nude, bearing a staff terminating in a cross. He blesses the four kneeling angels on either side of him, who raise their clasped hands in a gesture of prayer. Three soldiers armed with shields and chain mail sleep at the foot of the tomb, oblivious to Christ’s resurrection. In the upper scene, Christ shares a throne with the Virgin Mary. He holds a book and raises his right hand in a gesture of blessing as an angel descends to place a crown on Mary’s head. She raises her hands in a gesture of prayer. Four angels flank the central figures. Two kneel and bear tapers while another two, visible as busts descending from the arched canopy, hold incense boats and swing censers.
This panel is related to a group of diptych panels with beaded frames that are dated to the middle of the fourteenth century and usually attributed to Parisian workshops. Other examples are preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. 665-1853) and the Musée de Cluny (inv. no. Cl 447), while another two are in private American collections (see Randall 1997, cat. 110 & 111). The Met’s panel shows signs of damage. Chunks of ivory are missing on the left frame and reflect damage caused by the hinges or by the removal of the hinges. A hole perforates the upper center of the panel. This intervention likely took place in the nineteenth century, when it was customary to hang medieval ivory carvings on a wall. The leftmost Angel in the Resurrection scene has also lost his hand. The ivory is a pale yellow, with no traces of paint or gilding.
Further Reading:
Nina Rowe, "Pocket Crucifixions: Jesus, Jews, and Ownership in Fourteenth-Century Ivories," in Studies in Iconography 32 (2011): pp.81-120.
Tom Williamson, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, Volume 1 (London: V&A Publishing, 2014): pp. 210-21
Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022
J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 330, p. 174.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 330, p. 141.
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