File:The ivory workers of the middle ages (1906) (14777692314).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:
. Peter andSt. Paul, but this resemblance is probably owingto the artists poverty of types. Above, inthe border, flanked by two peacocks of evidentSyrian origin, is the monogram of the saint, whichreads Maximianiis episcopus. The plaques on the side panels deal with thelife of Joseph, and those on the back have scenesfrom the life of Christ. The latter were twenty-four in number, but only seven remain, four insideand three out. Some of these are carved on eachside, and all are bordered with a narrow and muchdebased Greek bead and lozenge moulding, whichis an additional help in the identification of thestraying pieces. One of these lost plaques is nowin the collection of Count Stroganoff at Rome ; itrepresents on one side the Entry into Jerusalem,and on the other the Nativity, with an addi-tional incident in the withering of the hand of theincredulous attendant, Salome, which is recountedin the apocryphal gospels. The type of Joseph inthis scene is just the low-browed, bullet-headed 62
Text Appearing After Image:
^ 7 IVORY WORKERS type of the Greek wrestler, and must have beenborrowed from some ancient sculpture. In the scene of the Annunciation the Virginsits in a high-backed chair of basket-work, just likethat on the Bargello pyx, with the Visit of theMagi. She is spinning, as described in theapocryphal gospels, and beside her stands a basketfor her wool. The plaque, with the Virgin riding on an ass,is not the flight into Egypt, but the journey toBethlehem just before the Child was born, and thelanguid attitude of the Virgin as she leans in weak-ness on the shoulder of Joseph, is rendered withmuch feeling. The Baptism of Christ is peculiarly interestingas it gives an insight into the early types of thissubject. The Holy Spirit in the form of a doveflies headlong downwards, and Christ is repre-sented as a little naked child, and beside him, lean-ing on an urn is the personification of the RiverJordan. Another remnant of pagan tradition isfound in the winged and bearded genius of Sleep,who sta

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