Two faces of a single late-Gothic altarpiece wing, parted in 1936, are to be offered at Lempertz in Cologne on 21 November after being reunited for viewing. The panels, attributed to Johann Koerbecke and his workshop, carry a history of separation, museum care and restitution that has brought them back together nearly ninety years after they were split.

One side shows the Annunciation and dates to around 1470 to 1480. It was once the reverse of the same wing as the second panel, lot 1006 in the sale, and the two faces were divided in 1936. Lempertz records that the panels then passed through museum stewardship before being returned to the heirs of their former owners in December 2025, an unusually complete and documented chain of custody for a work of this age and a rare example of a restitution story reaching the saleroom with its paperwork intact.

The two lots will be offered separately and then together, so a bidder has the chance to reunite the wing permanently rather than leaving the two sides in different hands. The catalogue discusses the attribution to Koerbecke, a leading painter of late-Gothic Westphalia, and to his workshop, and the research behind the panels has drawn attention precisely because so much of their journey can be traced. Works that survive with this level of documentation, from a fifteenth-century altarpiece to a modern restitution, seldom come to market as a pair.

The panels headline the Fine Art sale, Auction 1300, which closes Lempertz's autumn week in Cologne. The Saturday session opens at 11.30am with Old Masters and 19th-century pictures, followed at 2pm by a second session of Old Master paintings, drawings and 19th-century works. Jewellery and watches are sold on 19 November and decorative arts on 20 November.