Ivory devotional diptychs were sometimes adapted to other purposes. Here, the right leaf of a diptych with the Crucifixion has been incorporated into a book cover.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Book Cover with Crucifixion Panel
Date:second quarter 14th century
Culture:French
Medium:Elephant ivory, champlevé enamel, copper gilt on wood support
Dimensions:Overall: 10 x 7 3/8 x 1 5/16 in. (25.4 x 18.7 x 3.4 cm) ivory only: 6 9/16 x 4 in. (16.7 x 10.1 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.856
This book cover is composed of a quartersawn oak board that is exposed on the reverse and covered in appliques on the sides and front. The cover once formed the back of a book, as demonstrated by the holes and fragments of cord from a former spine visible on the reverse. Traces of a straight saw are visible across the surface of the exposed wood core. It also retains stickers and tags added by previous owners and dealers and a metal bar once used to attach it to a wall for display.
The front of the cover is dominated by a fourteenth-century ivory panel representing the Crucifixion. Mary and John the Evangelist look on in poses of mourning on either side of the cross, and angels perched on the gables of the canopy hide their faces in mourning. Remnants of hinge fittings on the left-hand side of the panel demonstrate that it began its life as the right panel of a large devotional diptych. The carving’s style and iconography place it within the milieu of northern France in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, where ivory workshops produced diptychs representing the Crucifixion in great abundance. Intact examples of such diptychs in The Met’s collection (acc. nos. 17.190.288; 17,190.198; 1971.49.3a, b), lend a clear picture of the diptych’s original composition and mechanics and demonstrate it was once paired with a similar panel likely representing the Coronation of the Virgin. While the other side of the original diptych is now lost, the fact that the current panel served as the back of a book suggests that the panel with the Coronation of the Virgin was incorporated into the front of the same manuscript. The five drill holes around the apex of the carved gable have been filled with putty.
The ivory panel is embedded in a rectangular cavity cut into the wood core and surrounded by a frame of copper alloy appliques. On the outer surface, the innermost strip is ungilded and adorned with beading, the middle is gillded and has been worked in the repoussé method into raised motifs of vinescrolls and figures under canopies, and the outer is flat and composed of four plates adorned with vegetal patterns in blue and red opaque enamel. A strip of punched and gilt copper alloy encases the edge of the wooden core. All these applied metal elements are attached to the core with nails.
While the ivory panel dates to the fourteenth century, it was likely incorporated into the current composition after the end of the Middle Ages. Medieval artists did reuse gothic ivory diptychs in the covers of books, as in an example now in the Bibliothèque Multimedia Intercommunale d’Épinal-Gobley (inv. acc. no MS 265 P/R). The practice was also common among nineteenth- century connoisseurs and dealers, who often combined medieval fragments to create the semblance of complete, "perfected," works of art. In the present example, the presence of drill holes in the upper part of the panel indicate that it was hung on a wall by a wire, a common practice among nineteenth-century collectors of ivory carvings, before it was incorporated into the present book cover. Other elements also suggest a late date. The band of foliate ornament and the overall composition of the cover strongly resembles two book covers in the Walters Museum (inv. nos. W.23 and 71.213) that incorporate medieval elements into post-medieval compositions. The scale-like toolmarks visible in losses in the enamel do not resemble those made in medieval centers like Limoges, suggesting that these panels were fabricated to fit the ivory carving. While the wood core was clearly once attached to the spine of a book, its pristine condition, without traces of a lining or damage by insects, suggest it is relatively new.
Further Reading:
Isabelle Biron, Pete Dandridge, and Mark T. Wypyski, "Techniques and Materials in Limoges Enamels, in Enamels of Limoges, 11-1350, ed. Barbara Drake Boehm and Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye (New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996): pp. 48-63.
Peter Barnet, "Gothic Sculpture in Ivory: An Introduction," in Images in Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, ed. Peter Barnet (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997): pp. 2-17.
Sarah Guérin, "Meaningful Spectacles: Gothic Ivories Staging the Divine," The Art Bulletin 95 (March 2013): pp. 53–77.
Paul Williamson and Glynn Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550: Part 1 (London, V&A Publishing, 2014): pp. 209-344
Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022
Antoine Joseph Essingh, Cologne (until d. 1864); his sale, J. M. Heberle, Cologne (September 18-29, 1865, pt. II, no. 852); Christophe Rhaban Ruhl, Cologne (sold 1876); his sale, J. M. Heberle, Cologne (May 15-18, 1876, no. 186; to Bourgeois); [ Bourgeois Frères, Cologne (from 1876)]; Eugen Felix, Leipzig (sold 1886); his sale, J. M. Heberle, Cologne (October 25–30, 1886, no. 320); [ Adolph Fröschels, Hamburg (by 1891)]; Emden, Hamburg; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until d. 1913); Estate of J. Pierpont Morgan, New York (until 1917)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 18, 1970–March 29, 1970.
Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 16, 1970–July 5, 1970.
Catalogue illustré de la collection des objets d'art qui composent le cabinet de Mr. Antione Jos. Essingh. Cologne: J. M. Heberle, September 18–29, 1865. no. 852, p. 86, (of pt. 2).
Catalogue de la collection de tableaux anciens et modernes, estampes, eaux-fortes, manuscrits et objets d'art composant le cabinet de feu Monsieur Chr. R. Ruhl à Cologne. Cologne: J. M. Heberle, May 15–18, 1876. no. 186, p. 66, ill. unnumbered pl.
Atlas zu dem Kataloge der Kunstsammlung von Eugen Felix in Leipzig. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1880. no. 585, pl. XXIII.
Eye, August von, and P. E. Börner. Die Kunstsammlung von Eugen Felix in Leipzig. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1880. no. 585, p. 97.
Kunst-Sammlung des Herrn Eugen Felix. Cologne: J. M. Heberle, October 25–30, 1886. no. 320, p. 55, ill. unnumbered pl.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 555 bis, p. 195, 202 n. 2, 220 n. 1.
Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 555 bis, p. 214.
Ostoia, Vera K. The Middle Ages: Treasures from the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. no. 70, pp. 152–153, 258.
Baron, Françoise, ed. Les fastes du Gothique: Le siècle de Charles V. Paris: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1981. p. 198.
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