The Cologne Diptych


German, 1300-1325
Silver gilt with translucent and opaque enamels; 2⅜ x 3 7/16 in. (6.1 x 8.7 cm.)
The Cloisters, New York City, Gift of Ruth Blumka, 1980.366

In the Annunciation wing the angel's banderole reads ave maria, the first words of his greeting (Luke 1:28). Mary's palm-out gesture is an iconographic convention signifying that a person is accepting something, in this case the role that the angel has proposed to her (Luke 1:38). In larger Annunciations in this period it was common to separate the figures by some architectural element such as a column; in this small work, the separation is effected by the banderole and the vase of oversize lilies.

The foreground of the wing to the right of the Annunciation has an ox, an ass, and a midwife, so the birth being pictured should be that of Jesus. But some other details are more consistent with the birth of John the Baptist. The mother appears to be well on in years, like John's mother Elizabeth (viz. Luke 1:36), and the man on the right seems to be holding a writing tablet like the one used by his father Zechariah at the time of the birth (Luke 1:63). Midwives were disappearing from western Nativity images in the 14th century. The museum's label suggests that this one could indicate an Austrian origin.

–Online commentary by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Read more about images of the Annunciation.
Read more about images of the Nativity.
Read more about images of the Crucifixion.
Read more about images of the Resurrection.

Photograph: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City