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
Cervara Altarpiece panels were re-united at the Palazzo Bianco in autumn 2005. Cervara Altarpiece The Cervara Altarpiece or Cervara Polyptych was an oil-on-oak-panel altarpiece painted by the Flemish painter Gerard David early in the 16th century for the high altar of Cervara Abbey in Liguria, Italy. It was commissioned by the Genoese nobleman Vincenzo Sauli on 7 September 1506, as dated in a 17th-century document - Sauli's name is painted above the Virgin's feet in the central panel. David painted it in Bruges and it was installed in the Abbey in 1507. It was originally formed of seven panels, which were divided