The John Grandisson Triptych is an ivory

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

carved in England around 1330 AD. Since 1861, it has been part of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

's collection.triptych / religious/ritual equipment
British Museum, retrieved 7 December 2013

Description

One of the best preserved English ivories, the John Grandisson Triptych was made between 1330 and 1340. It measures high by wide. The triptych is made from three rectangular panels of elephant ivory and folds closed along two sets of three silver hinges. The central panel is divided into two scenes, with the Coronation of the Virgin above and the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

below. The left and right leaves are similarly split into two scenes, with

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

and his church and

Saint Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

with his stones on the left leaf, and

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

and his sword and

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

with mitre and crozier on the right leaf. The outer wings are also engraved with

John Grandisson The '' John Grandisson Triptych'', displaying on two small escutcheons the arms of Bishop Grandisson. British Museum John de Grandisson (1292 – 16 July 1369), also spelt Grandison, was Bishop of Exeter, in Devon, England, from 1327 to his deat ...

's coat of arms. Grandisson regarded Beckett as a hero and had written a biography of him.

Original ownership

John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter from 1327–1369,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 246 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 a

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

for the normal central eaglet, making the arms unique to him. His arms appear within an image of Exeter Cathedral, in the psalter of which he was the second owner, now in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

as Add MS 21926. 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 and

the Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. They are carved with the same arms.Ivory triptych by Medieval
ArtFund, retrieved 7 December 2013. The Grandisson ivories in the Louvre and British Museum demonstrate

iconograph {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 An iconograph is a picture formed by a word or words. It can take the form of irregularly shaped letters or (especially in the case of poems) irregularly aligned text. American poet May Swenson popularized such ...

ic features that suggest Italian influence and the style of paintings from the

province of Siena The province of Siena ( it, provincia di Siena, link=no, ) is a province in Tuscany, Italy. Its capital is the city of Siena. Geography The province is divided into seven historical areas: * Alta Val d'Elsa * Chianti senese * The urban area o ...

in Tuscany. Prior to John Webb buying it on behalf of the British Museum in 1861, the triptych was in the possession of the Russian Prince Aleksey Saltykov.A. W. Franks,
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London
', 2nd Series, no.1, pages 376–377. Saltykov bought the artefact in Paris from Louis Fidel Debruge-Duménil.
Gothic Ivories, Courtauld Institute, retrieved 7 December 2012

References

{{reflist Triptychs Ivory works of art Medieval European objects in the British Museum Gothic sculptures 1330s works