{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O72525"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72525/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GA0346/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GA0346/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GA0346","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GA0344","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GA2881","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GA2902","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GT9451","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE9981","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GK3165","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN5184","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN5182","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC8152","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O72525/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O72525","accessionNumber":"243:1, 2-1867","objectType":"Triptych","titles":[{"title":"The Nativity with the Adoration of the Magi, the Crucifixion and the Last Judgement","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is an ivory triptych made in England in about 1300. The triptych depicts scenes of the Infancy and the Crucifixion of Christ. On the left wing are the scenes of the Annunciation, the Hesitation and the Annunciation to the Shepherds; on the right Herod instructing his soldiers and the Massacre of the Innocents. The central panel shows the Nativity below and the Crucifixion above; and in the gable at the top Christ is shown presiding over the Last Judgement.\r\n\r\nAlthough the central panel was acquired by the museum in 1867, the wings of the triptych had by then been separated from it and eventually entered the Wernher Collection at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire. They were allocated to the Museum by the Museum & Galleries Commission, following their acceptance in Lieu of inheritance tax.\n\nThe Gothic Triptych was to all intents and purposes a sub-branch of the tabernacle polyptych, with a shallower central panel and two, rather than four, hinged wings. The subject matter was the same, dominated by single images of the standing Virgin and Child and scenes from the infancy of Christ. Triptychs – like diptychs – are better suited to the needs of a travelling clientele, who would wish to take these small portable altars with them as aids to prayer. Some of them were intended to be carried in cases, usually of cuir bouilli (boiled leather).","physicalDescription":"The central panel is divided into three compartments. At the bottom is the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi; in the middle the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St John at the edges, two figures on ladders, apparently nailing Christ's hands to the Cross, a female figure collecting Christ's blood in a chalice at the foot of the Cross (either Ecclesia or Mary Magdalene) and Longinus and Stephaton; above, in the gable, is Christ in Judgement, flanked by the Blessed and a trumpeting angel to his right and by the Damned (partly missing) to his left. The lower and middle scenes take place under depressed trefoil arches with censing angels in the spandrels. The left wing shows the Blessed (including a bishop with mitre) rising from their graves in the half-gable, the Annunciation and Visitation in the middle, and the Annunciation to the Shepherds at the bottom. The right wing shows the Damned rising from their graves from the half-gable, the seated Herod, with sword, instructing his soldiers (one wearing a helm) in the middle, and those same soldiers carrying out the Massacre of the Innocents below. In the spandrels of both wings are pierced trefoils.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved elephant ivory","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2013GA0346","2013GA0344","2013GA2881","2013GA2902","2013GT9451","2006AE9981","2013GK3165","2006AN5184","2006AN5182","2017KC8152"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"111","id":"THES49918"},"free":"","case":"CA8","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"TCRPS","id":"THES49504"},"free":"","case":"1","shelf":"1","box":"tray 2"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Triptych","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1300","earliest":"1295-01-01","latest":"1304-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"A.31:1-1996","id":"O306792"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"A.31:2-1996","id":"O306792"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"10.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"6.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"central panel","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"3.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"wings","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The central panel was in the possession of John Webb, London, by 1862 and was purchsed from him in 1867 (£7). The wings were acquired by Sir Julius Wernher (1850-1912) at an unknown date; they remained in the Wernher Collection, first at Bath House, Piccadilly, and then at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, until 1996, their relationship to the V&amp;A central panel first being noticed by Joseph Natanson in 1950-51; they were allocated to the V&amp;A in 1996 by the Museum and Galleries Commission, following their acceptance in lieu of inheritance tax (Estate of Lady Anastasia Wernher). ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Triptych, ivory, scenes of the Infancy and Crucifixion of Christ, English, ca. 1300","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1867. <font -u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1.</font> London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 9"},{"reference":{"text":"Longhurst, Margaret H., <u>Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory</u>. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929","id":"AUTH329986"},"details":"p.5","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Williamson, Paul. Acquisitions of Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992-1999. <font -u>Burlington Magazine.</font> CXLI, 1999, p. 783, fig. 1"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Porter, D. A. [PhD Dissertation] <font -u>Ivory Carving in Later Medieval England 1200-1400.</font> State University of New York, Binghampton, 1974, cat. no. 30"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cf. Natanson, J. L. <font -u>Gothic Ivories of the 13th and 14th Cneturies.</font> London, 1951, pp. 18, 34, no. 21"},{"reference":{"text":"Maskell, W., <u>A Description of the Ivories Ancient and Medieval in the South Kensington Museum</u>, London, 1872","id":"AUTH330219"},"details":"pp. 94-95","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul, ‘Medieval ivory carvings in the Wernher Collection’, in: <u>Apollo</u>, CLV/483, May 2002","id":"AUTH333743"},"details":"p. 18","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550</u>, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014","id":"AUTH332632"},"details":"part 1, pp. 172-175","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Westwood, J O. A descriptive catalogue of the Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum. With an Account of the Continental Collections of Classical and Mediaeval Ivories. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1876","id":"AUTH315345"},"details":"pp. 175-76","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Annunciation","id":"V30"},{"text":"Annunciation to the Shepherds","id":"V234"},{"text":"Massacre of the Innocents","id":"V227"},{"text":"Nativity","id":"V23"},{"text":"Crucifixion","id":"V405"},{"text":"Last Judgement","id":"V214"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["243:1-1867","243:2-1867"],"accessionNumberNum":"243","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1867,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Triptych","Fragment"],"assets":["2019LW3804"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-26","recordCreationDate":"2003-01-06","availableToBook":false}}