A triptych: central panel: The Madonna Lactans enthroned, flanked by Saint Christopher and Saint Philip with the Crucifixion above; left wing: Saint Catherine of Alexandria (?) and the Angel of the Annunciation above; right wing: A Bishop-Saint and the Virgin Annunciate above,
tempera on gold ground panel, shaped top, 58 x 50 cm (overall open), 56.8 x 12.2 cm (left wing), 58 x 24.7 cm (central panel), 56.2 x 12.2 cm (right wing)

Provenance:
art market, Rome, 1972 (according to Zeri)

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no. 6416 (as Master of the Cologne Triptych).

The Sienese origin of the present painting is suggested by the elegant and courtly depiction of the figures with wide oval faces and almond-shaped eyes. Also typical of Sienese painting of the period is the sgraffito decoration on the gold of the robes and the cloth of honour.

This work is amongst the group of works assembled by Federico Zeri under the moniker the ‘Master of the Cologne Triptych’. However, also included in the group is the Madonna and Child with Saints and the Pietà, formerly in the Wilson collection in Glencoe, Missouri (see Fototeca Zeri, no. 6415) which has now been given to the catalogue of the Sienese painters Cristoforo di Bindoccio and Meo di Pero by Serena Padovani (see S. Padovani, Sulla traccia di Cristoforo di Bindoccio e Meo di Pero, in: Bollettino d’arte, 77, 1982, pp. 85-98; S. Padovani, Un aggiornamento del catalogo di Cristoforo di Bindoccio e Meo di Pero, in: K. Bergdolt, G. Bonsanti (eds.), Opere e giorni: studi su mille anni di arte europea dedicati a Max Seidel, Venice 2001, pp. 223-230).

The present painting, which can be dated between the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century, can also be compared to works by Cristoforo di Bindoccio and Meo di Pero, such as the triptych in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt (inv. no. 996) in which similar ornamental motifs are recurrent (see fig. 1).