Reliquary Triptych with the Virgin and Child, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Mary Magdalene

Around the Virgin and Child at the centre of this small triptych runs a border of round hollows cut into the gilded wood. They were made to hold relics, so the object served as a reliquary as well as a picture, and the Louvre catalogues it as a reliquary triptych with movable wings. A tall carved base lifts it like a small altar.

It was made in Bologna in the second half of the 14th century, probably for private devotion. On the wings stand Saint John the Baptist on the left and Mary Magdalene on the right. Above them the Annunciation is divided in two, the angel at the top of one wing and the Virgin at the top of the other, so the message crosses over the central panel, where Christ is shown in his tomb. The triptych came to the Louvre in 1973 as a deposit of the Fondation de France and was shown in 1990 in an exhibition on polyptychs held under the Pyramid.