Imperial diptych Imperial diptych In Late Antiquity, an imperial diptych is a theoretical type of ivory diptych, made up of two leaves of five panels each and each with a central panel representing the emperor or empress. They are so-named in contrast to consular diptychs. They were produced as unique examples, whereas each consular diptych was produced in large numbers to offer to the emperor on certain occasions, principally a nobleman's entry to the consulship. No complete example of an imperial diptych survives and so their existence is contested. The ivories specialist R. Delbrück has theorised that the 19 surviving fragments of
Diptych of Philip de Croÿ with The Virgin and Child Diptych of Philip de Croÿ with The Virgin and Child The Diptych of Philip de Croÿ with The Virgin and Child consists of a pair of small oil-on-oak panels painted c. 1460 by the Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. While the authorship and dating of both works are not in doubt, it is believed but not proven that they were created as wings of a devotional diptych and that at some unknown time the panels were broken apart. A diptych panel fitting the description of the Mary wing was described in a 1629 inventory of paintings owned by Alexandre