Ivory in the Middle Ages

Ivory is a variety of dentine, the material that makes up a major portion of the structure of a tooth, that is found in the teeth of elephants, walruses, hippopotami, warthogs, narwhals, sperm whales, and boar. However, ivory used in commercial settings is typically sourced from elephants due to the large size of their tusks. The ivory that is used in the works of art throughout this presentation has been determined to be from the African Savanna elephant.

Scholars believe that ivory's emergence as a material in the art world was not ivory from an elephant at first, and sometimes not even ivory at all. The Grant Coutumier de Normandie is written record of the customary laws of Normany before French troops took over the land in 1204 under the command of Philippe Augustus. The trade of ivory is mentioned in the Grant Coutumier de Normandie under items known as wereq, an Old French word meaning items that wash ashore after a shipwreck. What is interesting to note is that ivory is listed directly before the word rohal, which is Old French for walrus. Ivory is again mentioned in another section of the Grant Coutumier de Normandie, with walrus hide listed immediately after ivory. This leads historians to believe that the earlier instances of ivory trade in Europe actually came from walruses. It wasn't until the later half of the thirteenth century that we see an uptick in ivory trade between Europe and Africa where ivory from the elephant's tusk was used.

Ivory was an expensive commodity, and we know now that the price was mostly credited to the journey required in order to ship ivory from the southeastern coast of Africa to the northwestern shores of Europe. However, the people in the Middle Ages weren't fully aware of the extent merchants had to go through to ship ivory, and the exclusiveness of ivory was a large factor for the high price tag. Additionally, the Bible alluded to ivory quite often and could have contributed to the price of ivory. Genesis 2:10-14 could be interpreted to say that goods that come from that area of the world could actually be from the Garden of Eden. The Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible will be used throughout this project.

Genesis 2:10-14. And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided into four heads. The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the land of Hevilath, where gold groweth. And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

The Ancient Swahili have used the eastern coast of Africa for trading for thousands of years. The first known instance of trade here is from the first century in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, a record kept by an unnamed Greek sailor between the years 95-99. The Swahili traded artisanal goods such as painted seashells and jewelry in return for items they could not supply on their own, such as ivory. Kenya and Mozambique had large elephant populations, and they would trade the ivory for items from the Swahili people.

Ivory was bought and sold by weight, so no two pieces cost the same. However, ivory was still quite expensive, and it's estimated that a singular small piece of ivory could cost an entire year's salary for a man of the courts. Therefore, most ivory usage was reserved for the higher, more noble class.

Ivory was sold by weight, however, the outer layer of ivory consists of cementum which is a hard layer that is not ideal for carving. This goes to show that the true price of ivory is higher than what was expected because artists would have to shave off the outer layer of the tusk before they could carve anything, and all of the cementum that contributed to the ivory's total weight had no practical use.

Much like most medieval artwork, the artwork was commissioned by a patron. Ivory is a sturdy material that is not susceptible to damage by fire or water, and is compared to hardwood in its carving properties.

Ivory sculpture was popular among thirteenth and fourteenth century Europe, with countless devotional objects being carved from the material. These sculptures were mostly in the form of statues or statuettes, with the intention of being placed on an altar for worship. As evidenced by an account from Edward I in 1299, statues or statuettes not currently in devotional use on an altar had special storage boxes, allowing the preservation of these objects to continue for years.

This booklet was carved from ivory and is dated to 1300. The paint was added on ten to twenty years after, which is interesting to note because the painting does not only accentuate features of the sculpture but it adds elements that do not exist sculpturally. The outer pages of the booklet depict scenes of the Passion, while the inner pages depict the Virgin Mary.

The influence of the addition of the paintings is seen on this inner page of the booklet. Sculpturally, Mary is depicted wearing a crown, but a halo is painted above her head as well. The crown symbolizes how she is queen of heaven and the halo symbolizes that Mary is the bridge between the human world and the divine world.

Specks of red were painted on to the back page of the booklet that depicts Christ's crucifixion. This is to amplify Christ's duality as human and divine.