Wax Tablet with the Coronation of the Virgin

Three angels hold a cloth of honor behind the Virgin and two others swing censers at the sides while she is crowned. The scene is placed beneath a canopy of three trefoil arches.

The panel is recessed on the reverse to receive wax for writing. It was attached to other panels with two holes in the right side for cords, and a hole in the center of the left side for securing the other tablet or tablets.

Although wax tablet covers are usually decorated with secular scenes, a number of others exist with religious subjects which suggests that wax notebooks were used by the clergy as well as the laity.

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 of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1914, by purchase [purchased or shipped in 1914]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.