The golden age of Gothic ivory carving (1240–1400) was pre-

cipitated by a longstanding admiration for ivory in the preceding Roman and Byzantine periods, and a timely increase in the supply of elephant tusks to Western Europe. Until the thirteenth century, materials such as walrus, whale and cow bone were used in the carving of traditional book covers and appliqué plaques. The

proto-industrialisation of textile production in Northern France, England and Flanders during this time led to an increased demand for alum, a fixative for dyeing textiles. To avoid the monopoly on alum imposed by Alexandria, Egypt from the twelfth century, Italian seafarers opted to trade with trans-Saharan merchants.

It was within this context that Italian traders first came into contact with luxury goods such as elephant tusks. Advances in seafaring technology also enabled the Italians to sail directly across the English Channel, bringing elephant tusks to Western Europe in significant quantities.

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Gothic ivories would have been carved from the tusks of African elephants, highly sought after because they were considerably larger than those of their South Asian counterparts. Statuettes

were created from the solid and high-quality upper portion of

the tusk. Panels were also sawn from this section to craft new

forms of tablets such as triptychs, as this area allowed for the largest panels to be extracted and the dentin of the tusk’s upper portion was usually in the best condition. 

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Primary sources from the thirteenth century suggest that a number of craftsmen with access to ivory were defined by their skills rather than a specialism in any particular material. In fact, no ivory specialists would be documented until the fourteenth century. Étienne de Boileau was a Parisian provost who drafted Le Livre

des Métiers towards the end of Louis IX’s reign (ca. 1260–1270), with the intention of regulating professions in thirteenth-century Paris. According to these regulations, no guild existed that was solely dedicated to the crafting of ivory, though seven guilds were permitted to work with the material, ranging from the makers of knife handles to dice. From the same document, a division of labour can be inferred; preparatory steps such as the shaving of the tusk’s brittle cementum was possibly undertaken by an apprentice. However, it is most likely that such a precious medium warranted

a master’s hand in carving the final image. Though composite examples exist, most diptychs within this publication appear to have been carved as complete panels, conforming to a rule imposed at the time which supposedly disallowed the creation of composite ivory pieces beyond the Corpus of Christ. The Corpus—the figure of the Crucified Christ—was an exception to this rule as Christ’s arms were carved separately; the opposable limbs allowed the figure to be placed on and taken off the cross. 

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In terms of how ivory was carved, one can turn to Theophilus, believed to be a twelfth-century German metalworker and Benedictine monk who drafted the treatise De Diversis Artibus. Theophilus documented the method of preparing ivory for carving, which is similar to how stone sculptures were prepared in the Gothic period. By covering the ivory with chalk and then drawing the desired image with lead, the drafting process occurred on the ivory’s surface. There was no particular convention for the carving direction, though it appears that the consistency of carving with or against the grain was maintained for all components within a single object—the left panel of a diptych would, for example, be carved in the same direction as the right. The diptychs shown in this section depict a breadth of complex carving techniques. In

the right panel of diptych inv. BM #1894, the Virgin and Christ

are seated facing each other, flanked by two kneeling angels.

The candles they bear are carved with an undercutting technique, which highlights the candles by completely detaching them from the ground. In examples such as diptych inv. BM #1397, the craftsman’s skill is attested to by the carving of the ground, smooth-ed to translucence, which maximises the aesthetic potential of the ivory while accentuating the figures depicted in the panels. Once finished, the object is given a final polish, with the collagen in the ivory creating an oily substance that provides a soft shine.

 

Much like other art forms in the Gothic period, ivories were polychromed as part of the original design. However, unlike polychromy on architectural features, where original stone surfaces were often completely concealed by pigment, the objective of polychromy on ivory was to accentuate the natural beauty of the tusk. Theophilus does not shed light on the polychromy process, though he briefly addresses the staining of ivory with madder root.19 He also discusses the technique of gilding, which is applied as gold leaf on bole or painted as an emulsion, often on the figures’ hair or the edges of clothing. Beyond a liberal use of blue, green was also used as a transparent lacquer, as well as several kinds of red and dark browns. On the left panel of diptych inv. BM #1114, the Gothic arches, gifts and crowns in both registers retain a good deal of gilding, as well as traces of red pigment. Furthermore, the green staining remaining in the arches of diptych inv. BM #1912 may indicate that artisans used the blue, copper-containing pigment azurite.

 

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