Wing of a Folding Tabernacle with Scenes of the Passion

This plaque, along with Walters 71.176, are the only surviving ivories from a folding tabernacle that contained a Crucifixion. They are of unusually tall form, and combine features of the Rose Group in the bands of roses that divide the scenes horizontally with trefoil arches flanked by rosettes. The placement of this wing in the shrine was far right.

This wing is carved from bottom to top with the Buffeting of Christ, Deposition from the Cross, and Harrowing of Hell. Diagonal iron hinges are inset on the left edge.

Among the iconographical rarieties are the Harrowing of Hell with large devils in the air and the Buffeting of Christ. The other scenes are typical of Rose Group ivories. A Parisian work may have served as the model.

The carving here is very uneven in quality. The enframements are unusual, and the form of a tabernacle for a central Crucifixion group is unique. These features, combined with the use of iron hinges, suggest a non-French center. The frequent use in Spain of tabernacle enclosures for sculpture would seem to confirm a Spanish attribution.

Both plaques have suffered from exposure. They have been cut horizontally at the top, and the remaining hinges have rusted and broken the ivory. The right wing has been cut diagonally at the bottom. There are iron nails centrally placed in the trefoil arches of three scenes. Each plaque is inscribed on the back: "8809/R-73101/las dos tiras."

Inscription

Provenance

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

[Spain]; Léon Gruel, Paris [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase [in Spain]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1923, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.