The Ivory Workers of the Middle Ages

by Anna Maria Elizabeth Cust

II. Anglo-Saxon Ivory Carvings.

The earliest carvings in the Northern countries still belonged to the type of geometric and interlaced patterns roughly cut in walrus or whalebone. The panels from the sarcophagus of St. Caletricus, Bishop of Chartres in the sixth century, is an example of this rough kind of decoration, which is also found on objects from the Germanic tombs. The Anglo-Saxons were far more advanced, owing to the training of the Keltic schools. In the British Museum there is a whalebone casket, probably made in Northumbria in the eighth century. It is ornamented with scenes from the Sagas, the Holy Scriptures and from Roman legends; this range of subjects gives a clue to the explanation of the style, which is Norse, influenced by Byzantine religious art, but the latter has been so transformed by the unskilful craftsman that it is hardly recognizable. The whole casket is bordered by a Runic inscription relating the capture of the whale which supplied the bone; it has been translated thus:

“The whale’s bones from the fishes’ flood,
I lifted on Fergen’s Hill:
He was dashed to death in his gambols
As a-ground he swam in the shallows.”

The name Fergen occurs on a charter of the eleventh century, and has been identified with Ferry Hill in the county of Durham. The front panel is divided into two, and represents the daughter of Herodias receiving John Baptist’s head, the headless body lying on the ground, and the Wise Men offering gifts, the word “Magi” being written in runes above them. All that remains of the Byzantine model of the Virgin and Child are two nimbed heads, one below the other, a lesser and a greater disk sheltered by a typical Byzantine ciborium or four-pillared canopy. One end has a picture of Romulus and Remus and their wolf, and the rest is decorated with scenes from the Sagas. The background of these reliefs is so crowded by small objects and fragments of scroll-work that the scenes are difficult to make out; but it is extremely interesting as a sample of English art in the time of the Heptarchy.

[VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON
21. ADORATION OF THE MAGI
Anglo-Saxon, eleventh century

The Adoration of the Magi in the Victoria and Albert Museum ([Fig. 21]), has been also attributed to this period, but Westwood’s opinion that it is of the eleventh century is more probably correct, the workmanship being most delicate and finished, and the design closely connected with the pictures in the tenth century Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, which have the same crinkled edges to the drapery, large heads and protruding eyes, with a sharply accentuated pupil. In the relief the modelling of the face, with the hollow between the wide cheekbones and the lips gives the face quite a Hibernian appearance which is visible in several other ivories of this class, notably in a most pathetic Deposition in the same museum.

The richly embroidered dress and tiny feet and hands show Byzantine influence, but the architecture, with the twin arch windows is thoroughly Saxon. The mysterious man on the roof is a curious genre addition, and the owl, most likely typifies the night. The hunting scenes clearly show the two art waves, the lions are unintelligently copied from the conventional Byzantine animal, but very considerable first-hand information is shown in the drawing of the boars and bears, with which the craftsman probably had some personal acquaintance.

The Deposition referred to above is of the eleventh century, and has a curious prototype in the Arundel Psalter (No. 60, British Museum), with the same attenuated anatomy and finely plaited drapery. The design is instinct with the spirit of these Anglo-Saxons and their Keltic teachers, as is seen in the mournful expression of the faces, and the utter deadness of Christ’s body as He falls forward from the cross, hanging His threadlike arms. The whole feeling is of suffering and sadness, very different from the cheerful scenes on the earlier, and the calm, unmoved solemnity of the later Byzantine art. This research for expression was a special feature of the more emotional Germanic nations, and in spite of the almost comic peculiarities, there is a sincere reverence and religious feeling, which is almost unknown in any other school of ivory carving.

The series of chessmen made of walrus ivory that were found in the Island of Lewis should be mentioned here; they have stumpy figures and fine rugged countenances, and the thrones are carved with the elaborate tracery so typical of this artistic movement. The game of chess was early brought from the East, as was the game of draughts, and many pieces are to be found in the various museums of Europe. In addition to the chessmen, the British Museum possesses a fine set of draughts deeply carved in Romanesque style, with men and animals.

In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a specimen of a large and elaborate set of chessmen, having tiers of attendants round the principal figure. A charming story is told in one of the Chansons de Gestes, and was repeatedly carved on mirror covers and other small objects in the fourteenth century, showing the popularity of the game. It tells how the crusader Huon de Bordeaux was taken prisoner by the Saracen admiral and condemned to death; one chance was given him, that he should play a game of chess with the admiral’s daughter, the most expert player of her day, the stakes being his life or the lady’s hand; but it seems the lady looked too much in his eyes and too little at the game, and the result was one more convert to the Christian faith.

The tracery which decorates the thrones of the chessmen is a small example of the elaborate interlaced scroll-work, which is a leading feature in Keltic and Anglo-Saxon work. In the manuscripts it is often reduced to a series of calligraphic flourishes, but it also develops into serpents and dragons inextricably woven together, and, later, more varied animal forms are introduced and even human figures are seen crushed in the serpentine rings. Forms from vegetation are rarely seen, and the introduction of the acanthus into these intricacies is due to the Carlovingian scribes of the ninth century and may be seen in the Bible written for Charles the Bald.

Several objects decorated with the earlier forms of this wild tracery are found in the great abbeys of Germany and Eastern France, and are thought to have been made in Great Britain or Ireland and brought over by the throng of missionaries who flocked on to the continent to convert the wild tribes of Frisia, Germany and Switzerland, bearing with them culture and learning.

Little Ireland in early days was a centre of artistic diffusion, almost more important for the Northern nations than that of Constantinople. Owing to freedom from invasion, Christianity and civilization had continued to flourish and the remnant of the old Latin literature was carefully preserved. Not long after the death of St. Patrick, the Irish Church, having increased in strength and learning, sent forth the famous St. Columba to minister to the hordes of barbarians who were over-running Britain. St. Columba met with great success and founded several large monasteries which became powerful centres of religion and learning in Scotland and England. For hundreds of years the schools of Ireland continued in great repute, numerous bands of missionaries were sent across the sea to convert the Germanic tribes on the continent. Most famous among these was St. Columbanus, who laboured in the East of France for many years, and afterwards in Switzerland and Italy, dying in 615 at the monastery he had founded at Bobbio. Everywhere these monks went they took with them the seeds of art and learning, beautiful illuminated manuscripts and other small works of art, which formed an inexhaustible store of motifs for the sculptors and goldsmiths of the following centuries. One of the disciples of Columbanus, St. Gall, who was called the “Apostle of Switzerland,” founded there the great monastery named after him, which became a most flourishing art centre in later years.

The Anglo-Saxons were not idle, and in the eighth century St. Boniface and many others pierced far into the wild forests of Germany, founding the great monastic establishments which exist to this day. This was not a fleeting movement, but a close relation was kept up between England and the continent till well into the eleventh century.