Folding Shrine with Virgin and Child

Title: Folding Shrine with Virgin and Child

Date: ca. 1340–50

Geography: Made in France

Culture: French

Medium: Elephant ivory with metal mounts

Dimensions: Overall (open): 11 x 6 3/16 x 2 1/16 in. (27.9 x 15.7 x 5.3 cm)
Overall (Closed): 11 x 2 11/16 x 2 in. (27.9 x 6.9 x 5.1 cm)
Central element without base and finials: 6 15/16 x 2 1/8 x 1 1/2 in. (17.7 x 5.4 x 3.8 cm)
Inner wings L & R: 6 7/16 x 1 1/16 x 1/4 in. (16.3 x 2.7 x 0.6 cm)
Outer wings L & R: 6 9/16 x 1 x 1/4 in. (16.7 x 2.6 x 0.6 cm)
Base: 1 5/8 x 2 1/16 x 2 3/4 in. (4.1 x 5.3 x 7 cm)

Classification: Ivories-Elephant

Credit Line: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915

Accession Number: 30.95.115

The current carving is an outstanding example of a folding shrine, an especially complex form of devotional ivory sculpture popular in Western Europe in the fourteenth century. The central carving represents the Virgin standing with Jesus on her hip, and is carved in such deep relief that it appears to be carved in the round when seen from the front. Looking at an angle, however, reveals that Mary’s back is engaged to the back and carved out of the same piece of ivory as the baldachin above her. The four, hinged wings can fold over the central carving to form a protective case when closed and locked with an iron hook. The interiors of these wings are carved with the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Nativity, and the Presentation of Christ in the Temple in Jerusalem. These scenes are standard iconography for tabernacle polyptychs, as may be demonstrated by other examples in the collection of The Met (acc. nos. 1975.1.1553, 17.190.253, 17.190.174, 17.190.290).

Stylistically and iconographically, the current carving represents the standardized form of the tabernacle polyptych executed by an accomplished carver. The ivory grain on the wings and the central carving matches, demonstrating that they were carved out of the same block of ivory. This is consistent with a workshop practice well-known from other fourteenth-century tabernacle polyptychs. During this process, carvers would first cut an elephant tusk into a cube or, as in the present example with a five-point base, a pentagonal prism. They would then slice a section off the sides to become the inner wings. Cutting a further slice off the front and cutting it in half produced the outer wings. The Virgin and Child and the baldachin could then be carved in high relief from the single block of ivory that remained. This method of working follows a well-documented practice that was used to make other ivory carvings of this type.

The present work also shows signs of restoration in the modern period. The base beneath the feet of Mary and the molded plinth below it replaces a lost base, as do the five pinnacles that surmount the baldachin. The colonette to the proper left of Mary also appears to be a replacement. Likewise, the hinges have been reset, with the original holes filled with ivory plugs. It is likely that these additions took place when the sculpture was in the collection of Frédéric Spitzer, a famed Parisian collector and dealer of medieval art. Spitzer habitually altered medieval works of art, especially if they came to him damaged or incomplete. While the restoration of the object responds to nineteenth-century concerns and tastes, the present, restored form of this carving may help modern observers understand the original form of sculptures of this type that typically suffer substantial areas of loss. Folding shrines rarely survive with their stands intact. That said, the frequent scoring on the bottoms of the central element proves that ivory carvers typically glued folding shrines to a support like the present one, as in another example in the collection (acc. no. 17.190.201). The drilled holes on other examples demonstrate that they used dowels to add further support (acc. nos. 17.190.290, 41.100.122). While the product of a modern restoration attempt, the five pinnacles that rise from the baldachin also evoke an original design choice that is normally obscured by the fragmentary nature of medieval survivors. In The Met’s collection, dowel holes may be observed in the baldachins of two other folding shrines (acc. nos. 17.190.201; 41.100.122). The fragility of small, narrow elements like pinnacles likely led to the practice of adding these elements but inevitably made them more prone to loss. In its restored condition, therefore, the current work preserves some of the aesthetic parameters that are frequently obscured in more fragmentary medieval survivals.

Further Reading:

John Lowden and John Cherry, Medieval Ivories and works of Art: The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto: Skylet Publishing/The Art Gallery of Ontario, 2008), pp. 59-61.

Paul Williamson and Glyn Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, Part 1 (Victoria and Albert Museum Publishing, 2014), pp. 137-158.

Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022

[ Frédéric Spitzer (Austrian), Paris (sold 1893)]; his posthumous sale, Chevallier and Mannheim, Paris (April 17–June 16, 1893, no. 120); [ Bourgeois Frères, Cologne (from 1893)]; Theodore M. Davis, New York (until 1930)

The Katonah Gallery. "Medieval Images: a glimpse into the symbolism and reality of the Middle ages," May 12–May 21, 1978.

Reno. Sierra Nevada Museum of Art. "Culture of the Middle Ages: a festival of the medieval arts," December 8–31, 1978.

Aspen Center for the Visual Arts. "Medieval Images," November 25, 1979–January 27, 1980.

La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité, Moyen-Age, Renaissance. Vol. I. Mâcon: Imprimerie Protat Frères, 1890–1891. Ivoire 85, pp. 53–54.

Spitzer, Frédéric, ed. La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité -- Moyen-Age -- Renaissance. Vol. 1. Paris: Maison Quantin, 1890–1893. Ivoire 85, pp. 54, ill. in text.

Catalogue des objets d'art et de haute curiosité: antiques, du moyen-âge & de la renaissance: composant l'importante et précieuse Collection Spitzer. Vol. 1. Paris: Chevallier and Mannheim, April 17–June 16, 1893. no. 120, p. 23, pl. III.

Semper, Hans. "Ueber ein besondere Gruppe elfenbeinerner Klappaltärchen des XIV. Jahrh.." Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst 11, no. 4 (1898). p. 123.

Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 138, pp. 126,128.

Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 138, p. 61.

Rorimer, James J. "Part 2, The Theodore M. Davis Bequest: The European Decorative Arts." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 26, no. 3 (March 1931). p. 24, fig. 3.

Morey, C.R. "Italian Gothic Ivories." In Medieval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter, edited by Wilhelm R. W. Koehler. Vol. I. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1939. no. XX, p. 193, fig. 17.

Steingräber, Erich. "Ein Reliquienalter König Philipps V und Königin Johannas von Frankreich." Pantheon 33 (1975). pp. 94, 96, 98 n. 13, ill.

Gómez-Moreno, Carmen, ed. Medieval Images: A Glimpse into the Symbolism and Reality of the Middle Ages. Katonah: Katonah Museum of Art, 1978. no. 14, pp. 7, 18.

Verdier, Philippe. "Le Triptyque d'ivoire à volets peints au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon." Bulletin des Musée et Monuments Lyonnais 7, no. 2 (1982). p. 25 n. 19.

Wixom, William D. "A Late Thirteenth-Century Ivory Virgin." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 50, no. 3 (1987). pp. 345–47, fig. 5.

Randall Jr., Richard H. The Golden Age of Ivory: Gothic Carvings in North American Collections. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1993. p. 84.