triptych

[ trip-tik ]

/ ˈtrɪp tɪk /

Fine Arts. a set of three panels or compartments side by side, bearing pictures, carvings, or the like.

a hinged, three-leaved tablet, written on, in ancient times, with a stylus.

Origin of triptych

1725–35; < Greek tríptychos of three plates, equivalent to tri- tri- + ptych- (stem of ptýx) plate + -os adj. suffix

And the evangelicals have been especially irked by the recent sale of a Francis Bacon triptych for an astounding $142 million.

The Myth of the Tortured Artist |Shane McAdams |January 4, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Everything is in motion, and the triptych panels often construct a narrative, like the frames of a film do.

Art's Obsessive Genius |Paul Laster |May 20, 2009 |DAILY BEAST
The old church was pillaged and razed to the ground, and the triptych disappeared.

The Story of Bruges |Ernest Gilliat-Smith
Among the best is a triptych in the sacristy of the Cathedral representing the birth of the Virgin.

A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools |Various

The central panel in the triptych shows the young man wasting his substance in riotous living.

The Great Painters' Gospel |Henry Turner Bailey
The town church (Stadtkirche) also has a fine altar with triptych.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 |Various
In the centre of the triptych is Mary enthroned, crowned by two angels.

The Story of Nuremberg |Cecil Headlam

triptych

/ (ˈtrɪptɪk) /

a set of three pictures or panels, usually hinged so that the two wing panels fold over the larger central one: often used as an altarpiece

a set of three hinged writing tablets

C18: from Greek triptukhos, from tri- + ptux plate; compare diptych