Description
This beautiful and well-preserved diptych includes its original polychromy, gilding, and silver hinges, though these are no longer connected. With its lapis background, red roof tiles, and gilded details of the figures’ clothing, the appearance is one of luxuriousness. The diptych provides us with a rare and vivid impression of how such devotional ivories were originally decorated in the 1300s.
Provenance
Ozenfant, Lille; Private Collection, Northern France; Ozenfant, Lille; Private Collection, Northern France
Diptych with Scenes from the Life of Saint Martin of Tours: The Consecration of Saint Martin as Bishop (left); Saint Martin Shares his Cloak with a Beggar
1340–1350
Accession Number
1971.103
Medium
ivory with polychromy and gilding, original silver hinges
Dimensions
Overall: 9.2 cm (3 5/8 in.); Closed: 5.2 cm (2 1/16 in.)
Classification
Ivory
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
