Imperial diptych offerings to the emperor. However, the fact that the Barberini ivory was almost certainly not a diptych, but some kind of imperial icon without a second panel is a serious argument against the existence of the imperial diptych type. The two panels representing the empress Ariadne, in the Bargello in Florence and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, also belong to the hypothesied imperial diptych type. They are the only central panels of such a diptych (other than the Barberini ivory) to survive, since all other fragments of such diptychs are from side panels. Imperial diptych In Late Antiquity, an imperial
Annunciation (van Eyck, Madrid) Annunciation (van Eyck, Madrid) The Annunciation (sometimes Diptych of The Annunciation) is an oil on wood in grisaille painting by the Early Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck, dated by art historians as between 1434 and 1436. The panels form a diptych, and are currently in the collection of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. The figures and iconography are very similar to those in the outer panels of van Eyck's earlier "Ghent Altarpiece" completed in 1432. However, their relative small scale suggests commission for private worship rather than public celebration. The panels show the Archangel Gabriel on the left and the Virgin