111A. IVORY PLAQUE (HEIGHT 611/16 IN.) COVER OF AN EVANGELIUM. FOURTEENTH CENTURY. SCHOOL OF THE ILE-DE-FRANCE (SOISSONS)
112. HEAD IN SILVER GILT REPOUSSÉ. HALF-LIFE SIZE. THIRTEENTH CENTURY. ATELIERS OF THE GOLDSMITH'S GUILD OF PARIS
113. GROUP CARVED IN WOOD (HEIGHT 10¼ IN.) FIFTEENTH CENTURY. SCHOOL OF ANTWERP
The remarkable sculptures that owe their origin to the ateliers of Antwerp are distinguished by one of the quarterings of the civic arms, a severed hand burnt in with a red-hot iron. Those of Brussels are branded in like fashion. The images of wood, ivory, and vermeil, that we figure as illustrating the art of the image-carvers from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, show that the old tradition was still cherished in this community. Their artists were so far swayed by iconographic convention that a certain hieratic sentiment is perceptible in their works; but this is never allowed to outweigh fitness of action and expression, and their masterpieces are so instinct with taste and delicacy, composed with so much skill and executed with such freedom, that they are the admiration of modern artists.[37]
[37] The statuettes, diptychs, etc., in wood, ivory, and vermeil, or silver-gilt, figured from No. 107 to No. 115, belong to the author.