| John Grandisson Triptych | |
|---|---|
 John Grandisson Triptych | |
| Material | Ivory |
| Size | 23.8cm by 20.6cm |
| Created | c. 1330 |
| Present location | British Museum,London |
| Registration | 1861,0416.1 |
TheJohn Grandisson Triptych is an ivorytriptych carved in England around 1330 AD. Since 1861, it has been part of theBritish Museum's collection.[1]
One of the best preserved English ivories, the John Grandisson Triptych was made between 1330 and 1340. It measures 23.8 centimetres (9.4 in) high by 20.6 centimetres (8.1 in) wide.[1] The triptych is made from three rectangular panels ofelephant ivory and folds closed along two sets of three silver hinges.[1] The central panel is divided into two scenes, with theCoronation of the Virgin above and theCrucifixion below. The left and right leaves are similarly split into two scenes, withSaint Peter and his church andSaint Stephen with his stones on the left leaf, andSaint Paul and his sword andThomas Becket with mitre and crozier on the right leaf.[2] The outer wings are also engraved withJohn Grandisson's coat of arms.[1] Grandisson regarded Beckett as a hero and had written a biography of him.[3]
John Grandisson,bishop of Exeter from 1327 to 1369,[4] was a man of education, culture, and capital. This example of medieval English ivory carving is unusual because it is carved with the bishop's emblems. Grandisson changed his family's coat of arms by substituting amitre for the normal central eaglet, making the arms unique to him.[3] His arms appear within an image ofExeter Cathedral, in the psalter of which he was the second owner, now in theBritish Library asAdd MS 21926.[5] The coat of arms almost certainly means that this work of art was commissioned by Bishop Grandisson during his tenure. There is a second ivory triptych in the British Museum and two leaves divided between the British Museum andthe Louvre. They are carved with the same arms.[6] The Grandisson ivories in the Louvre and British Museum demonstrateiconographic features that suggest Italian influence and the style of paintings from theprovince of Siena in Tuscany.[1]
Prior to John Webb buying it on behalf of the British Museum in 1861, the triptych was in the possession of the Russian PrinceAleksey Saltykov.[3] Saltykov bought the artefact in Paris from Louis Fidel Debruge-Duménil.[2]