“An action was thereupon brought against the vendor, a dealer at Liége, and after some delay the amount paid by the Belgian government (£800) was recovered. The diptych had been copied from the engraving in Wilthem’s work, and not from the original leaves, and this accounted for various errors in the details.”
It seems strange that the Belgian authorities should have bought at so great a sum ivories fixed in wooden frames, without some suspicion or at least without examination. The Liége dealer, however, is not the only one who has attempted impositions of this kind. About ten years ago there were four or five large ivories, of splendid appearance, in the hands of some London dealers. One was a triptych; another a diptych; a third a comb; and a fourth was a huge shrine with folding shutters and a tall richly decorated canopy, like the spire of a cathedral, covering a statuette of the Virgin and Child. (The statuette was probably genuine.) These ivories purported to be of the fourteenth century but were all new, and out of one shop or manufactory. The forgery in some respects was successful; but in every piece there was a distinct character and manner of execution—the same exactly in all of them—which proved their falseness. Several were traced back to a dealer at Amiens; and it is not now known what has become of any of them. The great shrine having been sold to an English collector for £500 was returned; and not very long ago was still to be seen in a shop window in the Strand and said to be, as if to make confusion worse confounded, an ivory carving of the tenth century. This, whilst it would show perhaps ignorance on the part of the possessor, would be an argument that he might be innocent of knowledge of the forgery.
The public institutions in England in which important ivories may be found are the British museum, the Ashmolean and Bodleian at Oxford, and the museum given to the town of Liverpool with noble liberality by Mr. Joseph Mayer. It is worthy of remark that scarcely any addition has been made to the ivories in the Ashmolean since the time when they were originally collected by Elias Ashmole nearly two hundred years ago; and they are of especial interest and value, though not many in number, because they can reasonably claim with scarcely an exception to be of English workmanship. A very large proportion of the other three great collections had also been gathered together before they became the property of the nation. The Liverpool ivories were chiefly obtained from the representatives of the late Gabriel Fejérváry; and, in like manner, the South Kensington museum—begun about the year 1853 and gradually enriched by the acquisition of some rare Spanish ivories and some of the best pieces from the Soltikoff collection, selected with excellent judgment by Mr. J. C. Robinson—has received from time to time during the last four or five years many large and important additions from the collection made by John Webb, Esq. More than two-thirds of the ivories in the British museum, and certainly a large number of the most valuable, had also been previously collected by a private person.
THE END.
INDEX.
- PAGE
- Abbreviations of legends, [30]
- Æsculapius and Hygieia, [32]
- All large plaques not originally diptychs, [42]
- Angel, on leaf of diptych, in British museum, [35]
- Arm of chair, [82]
- Artists in ivory, in middle ages, [117]
- Ashmole collection, [120]
- Assyrian ivories, [15]
- Bardolph, hanged for stealing a pax, [92]
- Becker’s Lycoris, [34]
- Bellerophon, [21]
- Book cover of ninth century, [48]
- Casket of Arabic work, [57]
- ” from Memphis, [14]
- ” Runic, in British museum, [52]
- ” from Veroli, [55]
- ” in inventories, [60]
- Caxton, “playe of the chesse”, [76]
- Chair of St. Peter at Rome, [56]
- ” at Ravenna, [41]
- Chalice, &c., of ninth century, [48]
- Charlemagne, his patronage of Greek artists, [45]
- Chessmen, in chronicles and poems, [78]
- ” earliest date, [78]
- ” date of invention, [76]
- ” in inventories, [79]
- ” found in Lewis, [80]
- Chryselephantine statues, [18]
- ” of the duc de Luynes, [19]
- ” conjectural restoration, [19]
- Civilisation of ancient nations, [8]
- Coffer, sent by Eginhard, [47]
- ” in inventories, [57]
- Colour in sculpture, [104]
- Combs, domestic, [67]
- ” in inventories, [71]
- ” pontifical, [69]
- Consul, decline of the office, [31]
- ” the last, [31]
- Consular diptychs, [23], &c.
- Costume in early Greek ivories, [44]
- Crucifixes, [107]
- ” in Spanish Place, [108]
- Cup, or vase, in British museum, [46]
- Cushions, the meaning in consular diptychs, [25]
- David and Bathsheba on combs, &c., [67]
- Decline of art in the first four centuries, [21]
- ” after Constantine, [26]
- ” after sixth century, [44]
- Destruction of religious objects in the sixteenth century, [108]
- Diptych of Boethius, [29]
- ” at Brescia, [32]
- ” of Compiegne, [30]
- ” ecclesiastical, [37]
- ” ecclesiastical—their purpose, [40]
- ” with Greek inscriptions, [38]
- ” mutilated and palimpsest, [39]
- ” of Justinian, [38]
- ” found in Transylvania, [23]
- Domestic scenes, [67]
- ” works in ivory, [52]
- Draughtsmen, [81]
- Dress and decorations of consuls on diptychs, [25]
- Ecclesiastical works in ivory, [47]
- Egyptian ivories, [14]
- English ivories, [116], [120]
- Etruscan ivories, [19]
- “Familia” of chessmen, [79]
- Feast of Fools, [33]
- Fejérváry collection, [121]
- Flabellum in inventories, [95]
- ” of Theodolinda, [95]
- ” its use, [94]
- Forgeries in ivory, [118]
- Fossil ivory, [2]
- Grecian ivories, [16]
- Handle of fan, [86]
- ” of holy water sprinkler, [96]
- ” of whip, [96]
- Horns, for hunting, [113]
- ” tenure, [114]
- Iconoclast fanatics, [44]
- Identification of consular diptychs, [26]
- Importance of works in ivory, [22]
- Improvement in art after seventh century, [45]
- Ivory, African and Asiatic, [3]
- ” its characteristics, [1]
- ” mode of softening, [4]
- ” much employed in 14th century, [114]
- ” variations of colour, [5]
- Jehan Nicolle, [117]
- Jewish ivories, [13]
- Jupiter, at Olympia, [19]
- Ladies riding, [75]
- Legends on consular diptych, coloured red, [26]
- List of consular diptychs, [28]
- Lycoris, described, [34]
- Mammoth ivory, [2]
- Manumission of slaves, [25]
- Marriage caskets, [64]
- Meyer collection, [120]
- “Meyne,” its meaning, [79]
- Minerva, of the Parthenon, [18]
- Mirrors, [71]
- ” in illuminations, [73]
- Moorish ivories, [118]
- Morris dancers, [68]
- Nineveh ivories restored, [6]
- Oliphant, explained, [113]
- Open-work in ivory, [63]
- ” other examples, [115]
- Pastoral staff, with inscription, [88]
- ” not used by the Pope, [89]
- ” of great rarity, [90]
- ” of St. Bernard, ordered in Sarum pontifical, [89]
- ” of wood, [87]
- Pausanias, account of Greek statues, [17], [18]
- ” believed ivory to be horn, [19]
- Pax inscriptions, [93]
- ” inventories, [93]
- ” late use in England, [94]
- ” ordered in Sarum missal, [91]
- ” its use, [91]
- ” why disused, [93]
- ” of wood, [93]
- Pietà, of Michael Angelo, [103]
- ” in British museum, [102]
- Plaques of ivory, large size, [3]
- ” not originally diptychs, [42]
- Prehistoric ivories, [6]
- Pugillares, [109]
- Pyx, in inventories, [57]
- ” of St. Mennas, [60]
- ” various uses, [60]
- Ravenna chair, [41]
- Retable of Poissy, [65]
- Roman ivories, [21]
- ” ivory sculptors exempt from certain obligations, [21]
- Romance of the Rose, [63]
- ” subjects, [62]
- Seals in British Museum, [111]
- ” illustrating statuettes, [98]
- Serpent, as an emblem, [85]
- Shrine, explained, [51]
- ” in illuminations, [99]
- Siege of the Castle of Love, [74]
- Spanish ivories, [118]
- Statuette, coloured, [105]
- Statuette in inventories, [100]
- ” the largest known, [101]
- ” opening on hinges, [100]
- ” under canopies, [98]
- ” very fine examples, [97]
- Style of English art, [116]
- “Symmachorvm,” the omitted word, [35]
- Tabernacles, at Lincoln, [99]
- Tables explained, [111]
- Tablets of Moutier, [34]
- ” of Sens, [32]
- ” for writing on, [109]
- “Tan-tabl,” its meaning, [81]
- Tau, explained, [84]
- ” rarity, [85]
- Toreutic, its meaning, [17]
- Triptychs explained, [51]
- ” in illuminations, [99]
- ” mentioned by Anastasius, [51]
- Tusks, size and weight, [4]
- Veroli casket, probable date, [55]
- Volute, with double subject, [87]
- Webb collection, [121]
- Whip-handles, [96]
CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,
CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.