Diptych with Scenes from the Life of Christ

c. 1800/1839

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    ivory, wood case with bone and wood intarsia

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall (closed): 25.5 x 19 x 4.5 cm (10 1/16 x 7 1/2 x 1 3/4 in.)
    overall (ivory panel, right): 20.6 x 14.3 cm (8 1/8 x 5 5/8 in.)
    overall (width open): 37.5 cm (14 3/4 in.)
    overall (ivory panel, left): 20.8 x 14.2 cm (8 3/16 x 5 9/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1942.9.285

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Alexandre Du Sommerard [1779-1842], Paris, before 1839;[1] government of France, 14 July 1843-before 1847;[2] Debruge Duménil family, Paris, before 1850; (sold at Hôtel des Ventes Mobilières, Paris, 23 January-12 March 1850, no. 159); "M. Isaac;"[3] George Field, Ashurst Park, before 1857-1893;[4] John Edward Taylor, London, after 1893-1912; (his estate sale, Christie, Mason & Woods, London, 1-3 and 9-10 July 1912, 1st day, no. 81, the first reference to the inlaid case); (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 11 November 1912 by Peter A.B. Widener or Joseph E Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] Du Sommerard, Alexandre and Edmond, Les Arts du Moyen Age, 5 vols., atlas, and album, Paris, 1838-1846: 5:111.
[2] Edmond Du Sommerard in Du Sommerard 1838-1846, 5:vii, and Labarte, Jules, Description des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge Duménil, Paris, 1847: 457-458, no. 159.
[3] Labarte 1847, 457-458, and Catalogue des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge Duménil, Paris, 1849: no. 159. In his introduction, page 12, Labarte notes that M. Degruge Duménil died in 1838, but that his heirs continued to collect. Danielle Gaborit-Chopin, chief curator, département des objets d'art, Musée du Louvre, Paris, provided the Debruge Duménil information (letter to Alison Luchs, 2 September 1987) and the notation of "M. Isaac" as buyer, from the Louvre's copy of the sale catalogue.
[4] Art Treasures of the United Kingdom from the Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester, 1857, Exh. cat., Manchester, 1857: 22, pl. V; Taylor sale catalogue, Christie, Manson & Woods, 1912, no. 81.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1857

  • Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Museum of Ornamental Art, Art Treasures Palace, Manchester, 1857, unnumbered in catalogue, pl. 5.

1862

  • Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Medieval, Renaissance, and More Recent Periods on Loan at the South Kensington Museum ..., South Kensington Museum, London, 1862, no. 196, as c. 1400.

1997

  • Images in Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, Detroit Institute of Arts; Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1997, no. 84, as by Master of the Agrafe Forgeries.

Bibliography

1838

  • Du Sommerard, Alexandre and Edmond. Les Arts du Moyen Age. 5 vols., atlas and album. Paris, 1838-1846, 5:111, repro. 5th ser., V-VI album (3d vol.), pl. XV.

1847

  • Labarte, Jules. Description des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge Duménil. Paris, 1847: 457-458, no. 159.

1862

  • South Kensington 1862, no. 196.

1924

  • Koechlin, Raymond. Les ivoires gothiques français. 2 vols. and portfolio. Paris, 1924: 1:324, 2:322, 324, no. 861.

1935

  • Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 32.

1942

  • Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 10, as Italian (Milanese) 15th Century, Ivory diptych.

1952

  • Christensen, Erwin O. Objects of Medieval Art from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1952: 24-25, repros. 26-27, 31.

1958

  • Herzog, Erich, and Anton Ress. "Elfenbein, Elfenbeinplastik." In Schmitt, Gall, Heydenreich, eds. Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte. 8 vols. Stuttgart, 1937-: 4 (1958): 1335, 1336, 1359, repro. 1334.

1969

  • Leeuwenberg, Jaap. "Early Nineteenth-Century Gothic Ivories." Aachener Kunstblätter 39 (1969): 122-124, repro. 123, 124, 126.

1993

  • Distelberger, Rudolf, Alison Luchs, Philippe Verdier, and Timonthy H. Wilson. Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 77-80, repro. 77.

2014

  • Williamson, Paul and Glyn Davies. Medieval Ivory Carvings: early Christian to Romanesque. 2 vols. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014: 1: 328, repro.

2019

  • Vignon, Charlotte. Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880-1940. New York, 2019: 226, 276 n. 813.

Inscriptions

in Annunciation to the Shepards scene, on scroll held by angel: +PUER NATUS; in Adoration of the Magi scene, an illegible inscription on scroll held by angel; in Crucifixion atop cross: INR; in Descent from the Cross scene, atop cross: INR; in Three Women at the Tomb scene, on scroll held by angel: + Non est. hic. sursesst [?]

Wikidata ID

Q62118016

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