There is a large plaque of ivory in the British Museum which measures 16 inches by nearly 6 inches in width the largest known - on which is carved the figure of an archangel holding in one hand a globe and in the other a long staff. He stands on the top of a flight of steps under a round arch supported by Corinthian pillars. Its date is uncertain, but is probably of the seventh century; it is grandly designed and of excellent workmanship (Fig. 114).

A work of the same or slightly earlier period is the beautiful ivory vase (Fig. 115), which has well proportioned horizontal divisions and well-designed ornamentation. The style of design suggests a copy from metal work.

Triptychs

Triptychs, as we have seen, were used above and behind the altar tables, and were at first portable, so that they could be carried away after the service was ended; but later they became the "retables," fixed altars, or "rere-doses," and were carved or painted, or were partly executed in both ways.

Many objects of secular art, and articles that the wealthy could afford to use in every-day life, were made in ivory during the Middle Ages, such as book-covers, toilet-combs, mirror-cases, chessmen, horns, hilts of knives, swords, and daggers, caskets, small coffers, etc., in addition to the objects required for use in religious ceremonies, as pyxes, croziers, crucifixes, crosses, and taus, the latter being an early form of the pastoral staff. The pastoral staffs of ivory are not very common, and most examples known belong to the thirteenth century.

The Woodcut (Fig. 116) Of The Pastoral Staff

The Woodcut (Fig. 116) Of The Pastoral Staff shows the subject of the Crucifixion on one side and the Virgin and Child with attendant angels on the other. It is German work of the thirteenth century, and is now in the Cathedral of Metz.

An older specimen of the pastoral staff, which Mr. Maskell thinks is English work, is carved in bone with interlacing scrolls, and has a grotesque and serpent forming the crook decorations (Fig. 117).

In the fourteenth century ivory carvings were in great demand, judging from the great number of the various ivories of that date which have been preserved.

Belonging to this period are the beautiful ivory hunting horns called "oliphants" (from elephant) that were much used by kings and nobles in hunting, and were sometimes mounted in gold.

The Ivory Carvings Known As Pierced Or "Open-Work"

The Ivory Carvings Known As Pierced Or "Open-Work" are usually of very fine and delicate workmanship. The illustration (Fig. 118) shows two compartments of a larger plaque in the Kensington Museum, the full size of the originals that have sacred figures under Gothic canopies of fourteenth-century work. It is not known exactly to what country they belong, as ivory carvings as a rule are undated and unsigned, but the woodcut (Fig. 119) represents an undoubted piece of English work. It is one leaf of a diptych made for Grandison, Bishop of Exeter.

Few names of artists, as ivory carvers, have come down to us from the Middle Ages. One named Jean Lebraellier was the carver to Charles V. of France; Jehan Nicolle is another who has signed his name on an ivory pax in the British Museum. Henry des GrÅ s was a "pignier" or carver of combs (1391). H*š1iot has dated work of 1392.

Fig. 113. Leaf of a Roman Diptych. (S. K. M).

Fig. 114. Ivory Carving with Archangel. (B. M).

Fig. 115. Ivory Vase; Roman, Seventh Century. (B. M).

Fig. 116. Pastoral Staff; German, Thirteenth Century. (S. K. M).

Fig. 117. Pastoral Staff; Bone Carving, English; Twelfth Century.

Fig. 118. Ivory Caning; Fourteenth Century Pierced Work. (S. K. M).

Fig. 119. Ivory Diptych; English Work; Fourteenth Century. (S. K M).

Henry de Senlis, "tabletier," plaque carver of 1454, and Philip Daniel, "pignier" and "tabletier" (1484), in Paris. The top of a Moorish casket from Spain, with Saracenic engraved ornament of the eleventh century, is shown at Fig. 120, and a beautiful casket from Italy, carved and engraved in bone, is illustrated at Fig. 121. This is fourteenth-century work. Caskets and coffers made of slabs of bone, carved and inlaid with figure subjects and armorial bearings, were made extensively in Italy at this period, and used as marriage coffers.

Combs And Mirror Cases

Combs And Mirror Cases were naturally objects that received much attention at the hands of the carver in ivory. A beautiful comb in the British Museum (Fig. 122) belongs to the eleventh century, the central scroll-work of which is very rich and ornate.

Ceremonial Combs

Ceremonial Combs, with finely carved ornamentation, have been found in tombs of bishops, and many are preserved in churches that date from the sixth to the fifteenth centuries. The mirror case, Fig. 123, is a beautiful example of fourteenth-century work. It has the carved subject of the "Siege of the Castle of Love" - a favourite subject for mirror case decoration - and four lions forming the corners to the circular ring.

In reference to the ivory carver H*š1iot, mentioned above, Jacquemart quotes - when speaking of his work, the oratory of carved ivory tablets in the Cluny Museum that belonged to the Duchess of Burgundy - "Accounts of Amiot Arnant from 1392 to 1393. Paid 500 livres to Berthelot H*š1iot, 'varlet de chambre' of the duke (Philip the Bold), for two large ivory, tablets with images, one of which is the 'Passion of Our Lord,' and the other the 'Life of Monsieur Saint Jean-Baptiste,' which he has sold for the Carthusians".

Many celebrated artists have doubtless worked in ivory, but there is nothing to prove this except the supposed hand-work of the artists. Michelangelo is credited with working in ivory; Cellini, Donatello, Agostino, Carracci, and other famous names in Italian art have been mentioned as ivory carvers; and in the seventeenth century a celebrated ivory carver named Cop*š, but better known as Fiamingo, who was Flemish by birth. He made many basins, ewers, tankards, and carved figures of children in bas-relief. Fiamingo worked and lived in Rome at the end of the sixteenth and during the first ten years of the seventeenth centuries. He died in 1610. His work, like that of many other artists of this period, was greatly influenced by the style of Rubens, and a strongly marked realism in the manner of treating allegorical subjects was the prevailing taste in painting and carving. Very fine tankards in ivory, and basins, were carved by Fiamingo with bacchanalian scenes in a realistic manner. The tankard from the Jones Collection (Fig. 124) is believed to be the work of Fiamingo. It is a Flemish ivory mounted in silver-gilt work of good design. The body of the tankard is spiritedly carved with the figures of a nymph and satyr dancing, Silenus, and some children carrying grapes.