Fig. 120.—Lid of Ivory Cabinet; Spanish; Eleventh Century. (S.K.M.)
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.
Fig. 121.—Coffer in Bone Carving and Engraved Work; Italian; Fourteenth Century. (S.K.M.)
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.
Fig. 122.—Ivory Comb; Eleventh Century.
In reference to the ivory carver Héliot, 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 Héliot, ‘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."
Fig. 123.—Ivory Mirror Case. (S.K.M.)