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Opening Madonna Triptych

Anonymous (French)

1180-1220 (Medieval)

ivory

open: 17 1/8 x 11 1/16 x 2 1/2 in. (43.5 x 28.1 x 6.4 cm)

Description
This rare and unusual Vierge ouvrante ("opening Madonna") takes the form of a triptych which, when closed, shows the Virgin enthroned, and, when open, displays scenes from the Passion of Christ. The statuette, unique in the world, was carved around 1200, a date supported by recent scientific tests (including carbon-14 dating) on the age of the ivory.
Although similar in style to sculpture seen on cathedrals near Paris, such as at Sens, original ownership of the Vierge ouvrante can only be traced back to the priory of Boubon, near Limoges (central France), at the time of the French Revolution (1789).
Additional Information

Vierge Ouvrante de Boubon

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1903

71.152

Centre Street: Third Floor: Romanesque and Gothic Art

French

Gothic

Boubon (in present-day Haute-Vienne, France)

Sens, France


Provenance

Wings: Priory of the Convent of Boubon; Anne Hugonneau, Convent of Boubon [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Jean Hugonneau-Beaufet, Saint-Mathieu, 1826, by inheritance; Pierre Hugonneau-Beaufet, Dournazac, 1839, by gift; Pierre Hugonneau-Beaufet's niece [date of acquisition unknown], by inheritance; Sailly, Limoges, 1897, by inheritance; [in 1897, the wings and central panel were joined]; Jacques Seligmann, Paris, ca. 1900, by purchase; Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael, London [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; George Harding, London, 1902, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1903, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.


Central panel: Priory of the Convent of Boubon; Chaperon, caretaker of the Convent of Boubon, ca. 1792 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Chaperon's daughter, wife of Duvoisin [date of acquisition unknown], by inheritance; Antonin Duvoisin [date of acquisition unknown], by inheritance; Antonin Duvoisin's sharecropper, 1897, by inheritance; Lavergne, Abjat, 1897, by gift; [in 1897, the wings and central panel were joined]; Jacques Seligmann, Paris, ca. 1900, by purchase; Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael, London [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; George Harding, London, 1902, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1903, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

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