File:The ivory workers of the middle ages (1906) (14593413459).jpg

Identifier: ivoryworkersmidage00cust (find matches)
Title: The ivory workers of the middle ages
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Cust, Anna Maria Elizabeth
Subjects: Ivories
Publisher: London, G. Bell and sons
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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Text Appearing Before Image:
d the Wise Menoffering gifts, the word Magi being written inrunes above them. All that remains of the Byzan-tine model of the Virgin and Child are two nimbedheads, one below the other, a lesser and a greaterdisk sheltered by a typical Byzantine cibormmor four-pillared canopy. One end has a picture ofRomulus and Remus and their wolf, and the rest is lOO AXGLO-SAXOX IVORY CARVINGS decorated with scenesfrom the Sao^as. Thebackground of theserehefs is so crowdedby small objects andfrao^ments of scroll-work that the scenesare difficult to makeout; but it is ex-tremely interesting asa sample of Englishart in the time of theHeptarchy. The Adoration of theMagi in the \^ictoriaand Albert Museum(Fig. 2i), has beenalso attributed to thisperiod, but W^est-woods opinion that itis of the eleventh cen-tury is more probablycorrect, the workman-ship being most de-licate and finished,and the design closelyconnected with thepictures in the tenthcentury Anglo-Saxonmanuscripts, whichhave the same crinkled
Text Appearing After Image:
(victoria and albertmuseum, londox 21. ADORATION OF THE MAGI Anglo-Saxon, eleventh cenlurylOI IVORY WORKERS edges to the drapery, large heads and protrudingeyes, with a sharply accentuated pupil. In therehef the modelHng of the face, with the hollowbetween the wide cheekbones and the lips gives theface quite a Hibernian appearance which is visiblein several other ivories of this class, notably ina most pathetic Deposition in the same museum. The richly embroidered dress and tiny feet andhands show Byzantine influence, but the architec-ture, with the twin arch windows is thoroughlySaxon. The mysterious man on the roof is acurious genre addition, and the owl, most likelytypifies the night. The hunting scenes clearlyshow the two art waves, the lions are unintelli-gently copied from the conventional Byzantineanimal, but very considerable first-hand informa-tion is shown in the drawing of the boars andbears, with which the craftsman probably hadsome personal acquaintance. The Deposition re

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