gothicivoriesconferenceabstracts 23 24march2012 london
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Conference abstracts on Gothic IvoriesTRANSCRIPT
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 1
Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions
23-24 March 2012
Victoria & Albert Museum The Courtauld Institute of Art
Abstracts (by author, in alphabetical order)
Elisabeth Antoine and Juliette Lvy-Hinstin, Muse du Louvre, Paris
Reflections on the Question of Parisian Ivory Retables in the first half of the Fourteenth
Century
In September 2011, the Louvre was able to acquire the figure of Christ at the Column from the
Martin Le Roy Collection. This remarkable appliqu figure had not been known for a century
except in photographs. The two speakers propose to undertake a material study of the work
(technique, polychromy), using it as a point of departure for the question of ivory reliefs of the first
half of the fourteenth century designed for placement on retables, intending to bring Koechlins
pioneering work on this subject up to date.
Peter Barnet, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Metropolitan Museums Ivory Panel with a Stag Hunt: the lost Acadmie ivory box and
its only surviving fragment
In 2003, the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired a large panel carved with scenes of a stag hunt
from the princely Oettingen-Wallerstein collection in Germany. The panel, which originally served
as the back of an ivory box, had been known since the middle of the eighteenth century, when it
was in the collection of Claude Gros de Boze, Secretary of the Acadmie des Inscriptions et
Belles Lettres in Paris. Although the other panels have been lost, the entire box was featured with
detailed engravings in 1745 in the Mmoires of the Acadmie. Consistent with Raymond
Koechlins group of composite boxes of the fourteenth century, the lost panels depicted the
severed head of the white stag presented to a crowned lady on the ramparts of a castle on one
side; Gawain on the Perilous Bed on the other; remarkable scenes of Wild Men on the front; and
a tournament on the lid. In addition to focusing on the Metropolitans carving and its original
context, this paper will consider related works in ivory and other media as well as literature.
mile Van Binnebeke and Vincent Cattersel, Muses Royaux dArt et dHistoire/Koninklijke
Musea voor Kunst und Geschiednis and KIK/IRPA, Brussels
A Closer Look at the Gothic Ivories in Brussels
Researching Gothic ivory carving within the context of the Brussels collection has meant
venturing on what was virtually terra incognita, as no serious art-historical study had focused on
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 2
these artefacts since 1902. In 2010, the KMKG launched a campaign of scientific examination of
its Gothic ivory collection, including early sixteenth-century pieces (the seventeenth century and
more recent ivories remain to be studied). As a privileged partner, KIK-IRPA conducted extensive
technical research on two polychrome Gothic ivories in the collection. This fruitful collaboration,
which included the analysis of the polychromy, has produced essential information regarding the
origin, the dating and the use of these precious objects. The findings bring new elements to a
growing written corpus of technical data concerning late Gothic polychrome painting on ivory.
This paper will deal with a variety of sculptures from the ivory collection of the KMKG and will
focus especially on the two key objects: a Virgin and Child, dated 1301-1350 (inv. n 3139), and a
diptych dated to the mid-fourteenth century (inv. n 854).
Paula Mae Carns, Illinois University, Urbana-Champaign
La Folie Tristan on Two Gothic Ivories
Only two French Gothic ivories depict the twelfth-century Old French tale La Folie Tristan. A
fourteenth-century box in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg recounts the story in three
scenes on the front panel; adjacent is the Tristan image of the Tryst Beneath the Tree; filling the
other panels are generic courtly motifs. A newly discovered casket in the Muse National du
Moyen Age, Thermes de Cluny, Paris exhibits a single event from the tale on a side panel; next to
it is the Tryst; events from medieval imaginative literature adorn the remaining plaques. In this
paper, I will analyse the boxes visual interpretations of La Folie Tristan by comparing them to
texts in surviving manuscripts, shed light on the connections between the Folie and Tryst scenes,
explore the role of the Tristan imagery in the boxes visual programs and postulate a possible
relationship between the two boxes. I will argue that the Folie Tristan iconography dominates the
Hermitage boxes visual ensemble and, through various devices, transforms the apparently
generic compositions into Tristan motifs. The Folie Tristan plays a less central role on the Cluny
box, being just one of many stories depicted, yet it introduces new themes as well as highlights
existing ones.
Benedetta Chiesi, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
Re-assessment of the Leeuwenberg Group at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Notwithstanding the recent advancement of research on Gothic ivory carving, there have been
little specific studies on late fourteenth-century ivories. In 1969 Laap Leeuwenberg published a
well-known article where he condemned as fakes over fifty ivories. All these pieces had been
previously thought to be French and from the second half of the fourteenth century. Although the
validity of Leeuwenbergs method was questioned by Danielle Gaborit-Chopin. one year later, his
article still remains the only recent study of most of these pieces. Among them is a group of
ivories belonging to the Carrand collection in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, focus
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 3
of my recent Ph.D. thesis. In this paper, I will use stylistic comparisons with other carvings in ivory
as well as works in other media to argue that the Annunciation group from this collection (inv. 93
C) and a similar group now in Langres cannot be modern, nor Italian, as was recently suggested
for the Langres ivory. Similarly, the close examination of three pierced ivory panels in the Bargello
(inv. 118 C, 119 C, 124 C) will enable us to reconsider both their style and their date, and lead us
to propose a likely alternative to Leeuwenbergs categorical judgement.
Glyn Davies, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London
this elegant little chest is remarkably good: the ivory collecting of Francis Douce
(1757-1834)
The antiquarian Francis Douce was one of the earliest and most important English collectors of
Gothic ivories. The majority of his collection is now housed at the British Museum, although
examples survive in a number of other museums. The collection is primarily known through the
account of it published by its second owner, Samuel Rush Meyrick. However, the Doucean
archives at the Bodleian Library contain numerous earlier references to Douces ivories. This
paper seeks to use this hitherto-unknown archival material to shed light on Douces collecting of
Gothic ivories, discussing from whom he bought such works and when, as well as seeking to
shed light on his motivations for acquiring such works, and the place they held within his wider
collecting activities. In the process, the provenance and histories of a number of important ivories
will be extended farther back than has previously been possible, and the role of a number of book
dealers in making Gothic ivories available to the market will be highlighted.
Xavier Dectot, Louvre Lens, Lens
Reflections on a group of caskets with romance scenes
The Muse de Cluny recently bought a casket with romance scenes, unknown to
Koechlin (Cl. 23840), which sheds new light on a larger group of ivory caskets with scenes taken
from various romances, both Arthurian and ancient, as well as other sources such as exempla.
Interestingly, the caskets seem to have been produced over the course of more than a quarter of
a century by various workshops, but nevertheless all have a similar structure.
The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to assess the sources of these caskets iconography
and to try, as much as possible, to establish potential filiations between the various caskets of the
group by examining both similarities and discrepancies between their iconograpies and structure.
Secondly, I will focus on the interesting variations of the representations of the Attack of the
Castle of Love which can be found on the lids of these caskets. The paper will conclude by
underlining the reasons for the relative success, over the years, of this surprising formula, and the
evidence which can be gathered on the reception of such objects.
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 4
Danielle Gaborit-Chopin
Documents and works of Art: notes about French gothic ivories
The confrontation between documents and French gothic ivories often creates problems of
understanding and interpretation. For example, studies on the Livre des metiers, the statutes of
the Parisian corporations written by Etienne Boileau circa 1260, could be reconsidered: as far as
works in ivory are concerned, in the light of other documents from the end of the thirteenth and
the fourteenth century (such as the Rles de la taille, inventories of treasures and books of
accounts for kings and princes), as well as the fact that that the word yvoirier appears only in
1322, the Livre des metiers seems to represent a utopian view. It was amended and rewritten
by several statutes, sometimes only for one corporation, proof that these rules were not really
respected and that they did not reflect the reality. It is therefore possible to conclude that most of
the gothic ivories surviving today (religious and secular), were made by the ymagiers tailleurs
(sculptors) and the paintres and ymagiers (painters and sculptors), the two corporations
becoming one single corporation in 1391. And the idea, still defended today by some art
historians, that the ivory works are related to the Minor Arts , while sculpture and painting are
Major Arts is incorrect for that period.
Without documents, the provenance of an ivory cannot be proved. But rare and sometimes
disturbing are the documents giving a date and an origin for Parisian ivories: it is possible to put
in connection the Virgin of Zwettl, in Austria, bought by the abbot Bohuslaw (before 1248?) but
disfigured, and the little figures set around her, with the polyptych of Trani, which must be
rehabilitated. We can today assert that the Virgin of the Sainte-Chapelle (Louvre) is the one
mentioned in the first inventory of the church, circa 1279, and the chronology proposed by
Koechlin in his corpus (1924), chronology of which we are still dependant, is incorrect. In an
inventory of the pontifical treasury written in 1311, the description of a triptych that could be the
triptych of Saint-Sulpice-du-Tarn, puts before that date this ivory and the works stylistically
associated with it. The same conclusion is possible for the tiny diptych (Ascension and Pentecost)
in the Louvre, mentioned in the 1380 inventory of the treasury of King Charles V.
Finally, a group of ivories, with diptychs, tabernacles, statuettes and a secular casket, stylistically
linked (circa 1320-1340?), shows that it is a mistake to distribute Parisian gothic ivories between
workshops characterised by the typology of their productions, as suggested by commentaries on
the Livre des metiers. Documents asserting that the crozier of Metz cathedral was made before
1316 call into question the dating of this group, and also the accepted chronology of ivories in the
first third of the fourteenth century.
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 5
Sarah M. Gurin, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
New Pygmalions: Ivory Sculptors of the Thirteenth Century
Jean de Meung, in rewriting the ovidian Pygmalion myth for the penultimate chapter of the
Roman de la Rose in the 1270s, included a description of the medieval sculptors craft. The
heterogeneous list of media he gives, including wood and stone, echoes the variety of media
tienne de Boileau legislated the contemporary ymagiers to use in the Parisian guild documents
of the 1260s. Yet when Pygmalion wished to prove his genius and carve a truly remarkable and
beautiful image, he turned to the material of ivory: Por son grant engin esprouver... si fist une
ymage divuire. As a contemporary witness, Jean de Meungs text animates our understanding of
thirteenth-century ivory carving: not one medium among many, as Etienne de Boileau suggested,
but instead an outlet for the highest artistic expression. In what ways did master ymagiers prove
their great genius and what were the hallmarks of superb Gothic craftsmanship? Close analysis
of a group of statuettes by one carver will reveal not only the techniques deployed, but will
meditate on the impact of using these skills, not to create an idol to be lusted after as Pygmalion
did, but to fashion a captivating image of the Mother of God.
Andrea von Hlsen-Esch, Heinrich Heine Universitt, Dsseldorf
Fourteenth-century ivory carving in the Rhineland questions of style, centres of
production, and commissions
Ivory production in the Rhineland has been treated in several articles, and more and more objects
seem to pop up during exhibitions. This paper gives an overview of the questions involved: which
centres of production can be identified or have been identified before now? Is there a typical
Rhenish style, and how can it be described or defined? Given the fact that Cologne was until the
15th century one of the major trading transfer sites on the Rhine, and also a very important
ecclesiastical centre (with major building projects) within Germany, one should ask if there was
any exchange with the Parisian centre of ivory production and how Germans could obtain these
ivories. Due to a lack of available ivory in the twelfth century, Cologne became a centre of bone
carving, but it seems to have switched back easily to ivory when the raw material again became
available where was it imported from? Considering the political and commercial significance of
Cologne it should be asked, is there any evidence for the emergence of a lay market? And to
what extent did the two religious orders playing a significant role in the Rhineland during the 14th
century, the Dominicans and Franciscans, order devotional objects made of ivory? More and
more ivories can be attributed to their commission due to iconographical reasons; this may lead
to the question as to whether the Orders (their female convents included) could have been a
means of circulation for devotional objects made of ivory along the river Rhine.
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 6
Annie Kemkaran-Smith, The Wernher Collection at Rangers House, London
The Wernher Ivories: Life in a Victorian Private Collection
Julius Wernher amassed his fine and decorative art collection between 1880 and 1910. The
collection includes bronzes, paintings, woodcarvings, ceramics, textiles and medieval ivories, and
is now displayed at Rangers House. This paper will discuss the ivories in the Wernher Collection
in the context of the collection as a whole and look at the ethos behind Wernhers ivory collecting
habits. It will discuss those pieces whose authenticity has been called into question in recent
years and ask whether fakes and forgeries are more prevalent in the ivory collection in
comparison to the rest of the Wernher Collection. The comparison will continue by looking at the
subject matter of the ivories and looking at which recurring themes appear both in the ivories and
throughout the rest of the collection. This paper will also look at the placement and display of the
ivories within the Wernher collection, and how prominent a place they took in comparison to other
media. The paper will conclude by looking briefly at ivories that have exited the Wernher
Collection over the last century and making a basic comparison between the Wernher ivories and
other collections once in private ownership.
Christine Kowalski and Harold Wolter von dem Knesebeck, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms
Universitt Bonn
Polychromy, Provenance and Preservation of German Ivories
Since the analysis of Juliette Lvy and Agns Cascio in the 1990s, the aspects of polychromy,
provenance and preservation of medieval ivories, in particular the German examples, have only
been investigated by Andrea Whning of the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe. The
Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms-Universitt and the LVR-Landesmuseum at Bonn are therefore
initiating a new project in which several questions concerning German (Rhenish) ivories shall be
answered. The main aim of the project is first to develop a non-destructive portable method to
analyse pigments on ivory. Second, one of the most interesting questions is to try and establish
whether there are certain concepts of polychromy in the Rhenish area of Germany. Third, the
project will design guidelines for museums on how to deal with these fragile objects which are at
present sleeping in several museums without being shown to the public. This paper will point out
the main aspects of the new project, with examples of medieval objects from the LVR
Landesmuseum Bonn. For several years, both Institutes have been researching and lecturing on
medieval sculptures, for example in 2010 a conference dealing with the materiality of medieval
sculpture, or the recent exhibition Schne Madonnen am Rhein.
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 7
Adam Harris Levine, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Assembling Composite Ivory Carvings in Gothic France
Scholars of gothic ivory carvings have long wrestled with the problems of the Livre des mtiers, a
compilation of Parisian guild regulations issued in the third quarter of the thirteenth century. While
the text offers insight into the workshop practices of some seven guilds working with ivory in Paris
at that time, the ivory products mentioned are in many cases inconsistent with the corpus of
gothic ivory carvings that survive in museum collections today. Ivories of diverse form, function,
and facture were produced in medieval Paris, and it remains difficult to pair the extant sculpture
with their carvers guild and guild regulations. Further complicating the matter is a small but
significant group of ivories that postdate the proclamation of the guild regulations yet appear to
defy them. The production of composite carvingsresourceful assemblages of multiple ivory
fragments to make a wholewas forbidden in the Livre, yet a number of examples survive. The
study of this corpus of sculpture necessarily brings another group of objects into consideration:
extant wood carvings from Paris of the same period carved by members of the same guilds, if not
by the same hands.
Each of these composite sculptures call into question the degree to which the regulations were
followed, just as the regulations present interesting possibilities for situating the ivories in
reconstructed notions of taste and quality in the fourteenth century. This paper explores
techniques and practices employed by fourteenth-century carvers, with the hope of shedding new
light on the complicated relationship between their extant products and the regulations that
dictated their production.
Charles T. Little, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Art of Gothic ivories: studies at the crossroads
The last decades have produced a plethora of studies on Gothic ivories of the high middle ages
and beyond. Looking at three areas that are symptomatic of some of the issues of ivories -
whether localization, authentication or meaning - I will focus on some monumental ivory
sculptures of the Virgin and Child, a diptych with heraldic devices, and the conundrum of neo-
Gothic ivories.
Marcello Mignozzi, Universit degli Studi di Bari, Bari
The Ivory Altarpiece of Trani: French art in Angevin Apulia
According to tradition, an ivory altarpiece was offered to the clergy of Trani by Charles I of Anjou
after the death of his son, the young Prince Philip I (1256-1277). With this donation, Charles
wanted to thank the most important representatives of the clergy for having allowed him to bury
his son in the Cathedral. The altarpiece is the symbol of the kings power, a spiritual but also
political tribute. It has recently returned to Apulia after having been in the Istituto Centrale per il
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 8
Restauro in Rome for a number of years; it is now in the Museo Diocesano in Trani. Many
difficulties arise from the study of this single artefact. Notably, there is an almost complete lack of
specific bibliography. Furthermore, the artefact itself is absolutely without parallel. The
uniqueness of the altarpiece lies in its use of two materials: ebony and ivory. In artefacts of a
similar type, these materials can be found together only from the end of the fourteenth century,
much later than the period in which the altarpiece was constructed.
Tradition and stylistic analysis both suggest that the altarpiece dates to the thirteenth century. Its
unusual qualities can be explained by the various restorations that it seems to have undergone,
giving it a hybrid aspect. Some pictures show that ivory parts had already been placed incorrectly
during previous restorations; even the most recent, however, was not better. For this reason we
have virtually built the scenes of the side doors (the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the
Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation of Christ in the temple) by comparing this altarpiece
with other similar ivory artefacts dating to the first half of the XIV century.
Easily portable, this altarpiece was a vehicle of culture, a model of stylistic features and
iconographies from France. What was original affected local taste: this is the case for the Virgin in
the round, having the elegant and gracious taste of the city of Gothic Art. The analysis of an
Angevin document dating to 1277, referring to the death of Prince Philip creates a new basis for
future discussions, since it demonstrates that the surviving altarpiece really is the one that
tradition recognizes as Philips.
Ebbe Nyborg, Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen
The Beginnings of Gothic Ivory Sculpture. Recent Discoveries within a group of Danish
Ivories
The paper will present two exquisite ivories, the Herlufsholm crucifix figure and an Epiphany in
the National Museum of Copenhagen, and produce new evidence that they resulted from close
Franco-Danish connections, notably in the persons of archbishops Absalon (died 1201) and
Anders Sunesen (died 1228) of Lund. This evidence supports the idea that these ivories were not
imports (from France or England), but were carved in a French workshop within Denmark. Indeed
it has been established (based on written evidence) that the Epiphany in fact belonged to Anders
Sunesen and should be dated no later than 1220. Also the two mentioned ivories, thought to be
by the same hand, have such close ties with the polychrome wooden sculpture of Eastern
Denmark that one has to surmise the existence of a large workshop, working both in ivory and
polychrome wood, and able to take up ambitious commissions, such as the (mostly lost)
crucifixion group of Roskilde Cathedral. This whole prospect of early gothic French ivory-carvers
working at the entrance to the Baltic is of particular interest, since comparable artworks are now
almost completely lost in France as well as in England.
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 9
Dr Mark Redknap, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, Cardiff
Gothic Ivories from Medieval Wales: Contexts & Afterlives
Gothic ivories are known from a number of religious and secular sites in Wales, though they are
relatively unknown beyond Offas Dyke. This paper presents the small corpus, and reviews the
archaeological evidence for their findspots. These include a diptych from Valle Crucis Abbey, a
decorative Presentation at the Temple plaque found during excavations at Dolforwyn Castle, and
a plaque discovered at Basingwerk Abbey. The afterlife of a recently married pair of diptych
leaves in the collections of National Museums Liverpool and Amgueddfa Cymru National
Museum Wales will also be explored.
Julia Saviello, Humboldt University, Berlin
Late Medieval Ivory Combs as Instruments of Order
Secular ivory combs of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are impressive due to their figural
decorations. The intricacy of their carving as well as the good state of preservation of most of the
examples known today refutes their interpretation as functional objects for hair care and styling.
Rather, it seems they were used for representative and instructive purposes: as appropriate gifts,
which a woman was allowed to accept from her lover, they were subject to the rules of courtly
love. At the same time, they were part of a complex system of moral admonition against the
power of seduction attributed to female hair. This presentation will focus on the figurative carvings
on the centre spine of these objects, depicting scenes of courtly love, biblical or mythological
narratives which can shed light on the different contexts and discourses related to secular ivory
combs. To analyse them, I will not only consider contemporary conventions regarding hair, but
also the ambivalent symbolism of combing transmitted in literary sources and works of art at the
time.
Naomi Speakman, The British Museum, London
The Battle of the Sexes: Gender Politics in the Legends of Aristotle and Virgil
There exist two fourteenth-century ivory writing tablets in the collections of the British Museum
and the Walters Art Gallery which display surprisingly explicit tableaux of the classical stories of
Aristotle and Virgil. These tablets have been discussed in tandem by Richard Randall and
brought together by the Courtaulds Gothic Ivory Project, but a detailed analysis is yet to be
undertaken. The carvings depict Virgil in the hanging basket and Aristotle as he is seduced by
Campaspe (or Phyllis). This paper will compare and contrast these two tablets and explore them
within the wider context of the depiction of the Virgil and Aristotelian legends in medieval art.
Whilst the representation of an aged Aristotle ridden by Campaspe is seen in numerous
contemporary representations, the scene of Campaspe at the loom paired with Virgils story is
less common. The brutally sexual way in which the princess is treated in the two upper Virgilian
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Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions, 23-24 March 2012. Page 10
scenes reveals another theme which this paper will explore. This is not merely a humorous battle
of the sexes, but a violent validation of attitudes towards women in the Middle Ages.
Michele Tomasi, Universit de Lausanne
The Master of Kremsmnster: style, function and production
The Master of Kremsmnster is a typical example of the problems and state of research in the
field of Gothic ivories. The group of objects attributed to the Master is justly considered by
specialists one of the most important of the late 14th century. However, there is no agreement as
to the attribution of these pieces to Paris or Germany, nor on problems concerning the internal
coherence of the group. The wide dispersal of the single ivories attributed to the Master or
workshop makes it difficult to propose a satisfying answer to these questions. Scholars of French
and German monumental sculpture largely ignore these issues.
This paper aims to tackle some of these problems. The paper deals with questions of style from
three viewpoints: firstly, is it possible to localize firmly the group? An attribution to Cologne will be
argued here; secondly, what could stylistic differences between the delicate statuettes and
vehemently expressive reliefs tell us about the relationships between style and iconography and
about the perception and use of these objects?; thirdly, is it possible, through stylistic and
comparative analysis, to make any hypothesis about the production (a small workshop? Or a
master and a few imitators?).
Matthias Weniger, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich
Towards a re-evaluation of the Gothic ivories at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum
The Bayerisches Nationalmuseum owns about 50 ivory works from the Gothic period or in a
Gothic style, among them a few outstanding pieces. Over half of these works have been for more
than 150 years in public hands, coming from royal, private, and church collections. Most of the
ivories have been thoroughly analysed by Rudolf Berliner in his excellent 1924 catalogue, and
dealt with in several other publications. However, the preparations for an exhibition held in 2010,
as well as those for the Corpus of Medieval Ivories have shown that the original purpose of some
of these works, the localisation of the workshops responsible for them, and even the very
authenticity of several pieces deserve to be reconsidered in the light of more recent research on
the creation of Gothic ivories. This contribution will hopefully stir a lively debate on some of the
questions raised by the Munich ivories.