Thursday, November 10, 2016

European Ivories

Anonymous
Reliquary
ca. 1400-1425
ivory, silver
Rijksmuseum

Curators of the ornamental ivory carvings at the Rijksmuseum explain that the St Christopher below was originally not an object of decoration but an object of use, like the reliquary above. The St Christopher, less than four inches tall, was a "talisman"  designed to be carried in a pocket as a charm of safety for a pilgrim, and to fit inside the hand. The ivory reliquary-box was used (more obviously) to protect and preserve a sacred artifact of some sort. Since that object no longer exists, the reliquary clearly failed to fulfill its purpose.

Anonymous
St Christopher
ca. 1430-50
ivory
Rijksmuseum

Anonymous
Infant Sea Nymphs with Hippocamp and Dolphins
1657
ivory relief
Rijksmuseum

Anonymous
Justitia
ca. 1600-1625
ivory
Rijksmuseum

Pieter Xaveri
Eve
1671
ivory
Rijksmuseum

Pieter Xaveri
Adam
1671
ivory
Rijksmuseum

Paul Heermann
Samson with Philistines
ca. 1700
ivory
Rijksmuseum

Johann Ulrich Hurdter
Jupiter and Juno
ca. 1670
ivory
Rijksmuseum

Francis van Bossuit
Mars
ca. 1680-92
ivory
Rijksmuseum

Francis van Bossuit
Venus and Adonis
ca. 1685-92
ivory relief
Rijksmuseum

Francis van Bossuit
Woman playing a lute
ca. 1685-92
ivory relief
Rijksmuseum

Francis van Bossuit
Susanna and the Elders
ca. 1690
ivory relief
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

François Dumont
Portrait of Marguerite Gérard
1793
pigment on ivory
Wallace Collection, London


Jean Urbain Guérin
Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire & Lady Elizabeth Foster
1791
pigment on ivory
Wallace Collection, London