Miniature Altarpiece: Crucifixion

Object Name

Triptych

Artist/Maker

South Netherlandish

Object Type

Miniature Altarpiece

Date

1511

Medium

boxwood with leather case

Credit Line

The British Museum, London, United Kingdom

Object Number

WB.232

Location

Not currently on display

Institution/Owner

The British Museum

External Link

View this object on the source website

Upper section is triptych with ogee arches, Crucifixion in centre in relief, on vaulted background, numerous figures in foreground;
left wing: Bearing of the Cross with Sacrifice of Isaac in distance;
right: Resurrection, with Entombment and other scenes in background;
second stage is smaller triptych carved in low relief with Agony in the Garden and, on the leaves, the Betrayal

rests on semi-circular arcade with Last Supper in full relief; each side with seated lion grasping a shield

rectangular base with wrestling children filling the angles; whole rests on two recumbent lions chained to posts; between them is shield with helmet, mantlings and crest, eagle displayed

leather case with gilt borders

source: British Museum website

Signature, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription

Carved Latin inscription beneath central scene:

SIC DEVS . DILEXIT.MVNDV [John 3:16]

1511 [on lower section below Judas]

MDXI [inscription on case]

[source: British Museum website]

Published References

Charles Hercules Read, 'The Waddesdon Bequest: Catalogue of the Works of Art bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, M.P., 1898', London, 1902, no. 232, pl.XLV; O.M. Dalton, 'The Waddesdon Bequest', 2nd edn (rev), British Museum, London, 1927, no.232; Jaap Leeuwenberg, De gebedsnoot van Eewert Jansz van Bleiswick en andere werken van Adam Dirksz (Ghent: Miscellanea Jozef Duverger, Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis der Nederlanden II, 1968) fig. 3; Richard Marks, 'Two Early 16th Century Boxwood Carvings Associated with the Glymes Family of Bergen op Zoom' in Oud Holland, Jaarg. 91, No. 3, 1977, pp.141-142, pl.6; H. Tait, 'The Waddesdon Bequest', BM London 1981, p. 28, fig. 17; William D. Wixom, 'A Brabantine Boxwood Triptych' in Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Vol. 61, No. 1/2, Summer 1983, p.43; John Mack, 'The Art of Small Things', British Museum, London, 2007, p.79 & illus.; John Lowden and John Cherry, 'Medieval Ivories and Works of Art: The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario', Thomson Collection, Toronto, 2008, p.142;