Medieval Ivories in the Romance Tradition

Abstract

A group of nine French Gothic ivories are carved with scenes of lovers, trysts, wildmen, and gallant actions. They share an unusual type of landscape setting for the scenes, with the ground plane seen at a steep pitch so that the horizon line is near the top of the scene. A similar approach to landscape can be found in romance manuscripts of the middle years of the fourteenth century, such as the Guillaume de Machaut Remède de Fortune in the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. The romantic subject matter of the manuscripts and the ivories are related, and many of the costume details of the manuscripts appear in the ivories. It would appear that the ivories were produced to appeal to a public familiar with the traditions of romance manuscripts. One of the scenes on an ivory, that of a hermit reading before his cell, is almost identical to one in the sketchbook of the artist Jacques Daliwe, indicating a possible connection between carvers and illuminators. The workshop that produced these stylish ivories can be dated between 1340 and 1360, and placed either in Paris or northern France.