Two Medallions
Unknown Artist
ca. 1420
Medium
Ivory, polychromy & gilding, (later mount: gilt silver and glass)
Dimensions
Overall (Open with Mount): 3 5/8 x 4 1/8 x 9/16 in. (9.2 x 10.5 x 1.4 cm) Overall (Closed with Mount): 3 5/8 x 2 1/8 x 13/16 in. (9.2 x 5.4 x 2.1 cm) ivory insets: 2 5/16 x 1 5/8 in. (5.8 x 4.1 cm)
Classification
Ivories
Culture
French
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number
17.190.877a-c
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Medieval Art collection, *Two Medallions* (ca. 1420) is a delicate French ivory diptych, gifted by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1917. Crafted from ivory with vibrant polychromy and gilding, it features two small insets (each about 2¼ x 1½ inches) housed in a later gilt-silver mount with glass. This portable format—opening to 3⅝ x 4⅛ inches and closing compactly—suggests it was designed for private devotion, a common luxury item from late Gothic workshops, likely in Paris. The medallions depict sacred figures central to Christian iconography: the Madonna an...