The beautiful gilded 15th century wood triptych depicts the Virgin Mary and the Christ child in the center panel, St. Peter in the right panel and St. John in the left panel. The figures of Mary and Jesus are slightly larger than Peter and John. Mary is clothed in the blue that symbolizes her purity, blue skies and, in the tradition of the Byzantine empire since circa 500 AD, identifies her as an empress. She wears a gold ring on her right hand to denote the wedding ring which Joseph gave her as shown in Raphael’s 1504 painting, Marriage of the Virgin. The actual ring,“The Holy Ring”, is a cylindrical circle of the translucent stone chalcedony and dates to the first century AD. It is kept in the chapel of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Perugia, Italy, and is revered as sacred. All four figures have halos, and the baby Jesus appears to also have a cross behind his head, indicating his crucifixion.

   St. Peter on the right holds the two keys to the kingdom given to him by Christ in Matthew 16:19 where the two keys are explained: “Whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven.” The keys are upside down because   

in the Catholic Church “traditional Vatican key mechanisms are turned up towards the heaven and the grips turned down, in other words into the hands of the Vicar of Christ”, the Pope. Each key has three lobes, representing the Trinity.

  St. John on the left holds a two edged sword, a symbol usually associated with Paul but not commonly associated with John.  The sword possibly refers to the word of God as described in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword…” or to Revelation 1:16, “out of his (Christ’s) mouth went a sharp two edged sword…”. The writing of Revelation is frequently attributed to John. Both saints hold embellished books, another symbol commonly associated with Paul but perhaps identifying Peter and John as authors of the books of the Bible that bear their names. There is no consensus among modern scholars concerning authorship of the books of the New Testament.

  The triptych was created in Northern Italy in the 15th century and is in excellent condition. The artist is unknown. It is gilded wood, probably oak or walnut, both frequently used in Italy in the 15th century because of  availability, durability and the fact that oak and walnut do not shrink or expand as frequently as other woods. The triptych was given “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of Susan Knight Phillips and William Knight Phillips by Mr. and Mrs. Elliot  S. Phillips”. The date of the gift is not recorded. The piece was restored in 1992 by Carol O’Neil, Carollines Studio, Gilders Society of America,  Greenwich, Connecticut.

Emily Ragsdale