Frames and supports in 15th and 16th-century Southern Netherlandish painting

CATALOGUE 402 18. Anonymous, Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi . Closed: black, covering a reddish-brown colour on the panels . Open: wings: Circumcision ; Rest on the Flight into Egypt , mid-16th century Inv. no. O.SJ0189.I Bibliography: Lobelle and Van Cleven 1976, 581, S.76. Panels: central panel consists of two boards assembled with butt joins reinforced with dowels which appear, from the outset, to have pierced the supports to the rear; slotted into the groove of the frame; strong bevel on the reverse. Thickness of the central panel: ± 1 cm, of the wings ± 0.6 cm, slightly bevelled. Frames : the curved parts are attached to the shorter stiles with end-to-end mortise and tenon joints; the longer stiles of the wings have slotted joints, cut straight at the back and mitred at the front. The centre curved rail is cut out of one piece of wood with horizontal grain, unsuitable for hanging. It has a central original holding hole, and a subsequent non-original hanging device. Iron fittings were consequently nailed on this upper rail for reinforcement and repair. The joints at the bottom are through mortise and tenon, cut square on the outside of the wings and on the reverse of the central part, and with mixed cuts on the inside of the triptych. The end-to-end joints are reinforced with a single peg, the other joints with two pegs. On the closed wing, black overpainting, covering a reddish-brown colour on the panels. Inside the triptych, black and gold, overpainting.