Crucifixion

Description The Crucifixion is one of the most common themes carved on Byzantine ivory triptychs. While Saint John the Evangelist usually carries a Gospel Book, this ivory depicts him with both hands raised in adoration. The Virgin's hands are covered with a fold of her mantle, a gesture of indicating grief. All of the faces have been worn down over time, a clear indication that the ivory was stroked and rubbed during devotional prayers.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
3/22/1961	Treatment	cleaned; coated

Exhibitions

• Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1947.

Provenance Octave Homberg, Paris, by purchase; Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 16, 1908, no. 463; Jacques Seligmann, Paris, 1908, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1908, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions Christ, The Mother of God and Saint John

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1908