Deposition and Flagellation

The upper scene is the Deposition from the Cross, the lower one the Flagellation of Christ. The scenes are placed below moldings with rosette decoration: the sides and the lower border are roped. The openness of the compositions and the relative scale of the figures give this small panel a monumental quality.

The panel belongs to the Rose Group, and the scenes are rather comparale in treatment to, though entirely different in detail from, Walters 71.124. The Rose Group is complex: while there is a general similarity in composition among the individual ivories, there is a great variety of subjects and approaches. It is questioned, as well, whether all the works in the group were made in the same area.

The insertion of a single element of landscape beneath the feet of one of Christ's tormentors in the Flagellation is unusual, though landscape elements occur in Walters 71.124 and other Rose ivories. No other examples have roped sides.

The panel has slight chipping at the hinges and the lower right corner.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Léon Gruel, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; William T. / Henry Walters Collection, Baltimore [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.