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The object called by the museum Casket with Scenes of Romances (catalogued as Walters 71264) is a French Gothic ivory casket made in Paris between 1330 and 1350, and now in the Walters Art Museum,
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, Maryland. The casket is 4 5/8 inches high, 9 15/16 inches wide and 5 1/16 inches deep (11.8 × 25.2 × 12.9 cm).Walters The casket is one of the relatively few surviving
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
ivory caskets decorated with a variety of themes from courtly literature, called composite caskets for that reason. There are at least eight known surviving examples (and numerous fragments), of which two more are also discussed in this article: firstly a casket in the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
with an almost identical set of scenes, and one in the Cluny Museum in Paris, which shares many scenes, but diverges in others.Carns p.69. Both Carns and the Victoria and Albert Museum cite "eight", others "at least eight". By this period, Paris was the main European centre of ivory carving, producing large numbers of religious and secular objects, including small diptychs with religious scenes that used the same relief technique; these and smaller secular objects such as mirror-cases are more common than these caskets, or larger religious statues like the ''
Virgin and Child from the Sainte-Chapelle The ''Virgin and Child from the Sainte-Chapelle'' is an ivory sculpture probably created in the 1260s, currently in the possession of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The museum itself describes it as "unquestionably the most beautiful piece of ronde ...
'' of the 1260s. The composite caskets differ slightly from each other, but are sufficiently similar to suggest they all originated from one Paris workshop, or group of workshops, around 1330 to 1350. This casket may well have been a gift of courtship or upon marriage, and was probably intended for an aristocratic female owner, to keep her jewels and other valuables in. The carved scenes were possibly originally painted; as the paint on Gothic ivories tended to peel in places, it was very often removed by later dealers and collectors. The unusually large size of the piece allows a wide range of the repertoire of popular scenes from different literary sources in French Gothic art to be shown, which display a variety of medieval attitudes to love and the role of women: "Themes such as lust and chastity, folly and wisdom are juxtaposed in a series of non-connected scenes".Robinson, 216 Susan L. Smith has proposed that composite caskets express the power of love.Smith pp. 168-186. Smith focuses on one of examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum but indicates her ideas apply to the whole group. The Walters casket is first recorded in England in 1757, and was bought by
Henry Walters Henry Walters (September 26, 1848 – November 30, 1931) was noted as an art collector and philanthropist, a founder of the Walters Art Gallery (now the Walters Art Museum) in Baltimore, Maryland, which he donated to the city in his 1931 will f ...
in 1923. The iron mounts are modern, probably 19th century.


Iconography

The lid shows scenes of the Castle of love and knights jousting and the sides show other scenes from French medieval romances. The themes of the lid are related to the 13th-century ''
Romance of the Rose ''Le Roman de la Rose'' (''The Romance of the Rose'') is a medieval poem written in Old French and presented as an allegorical dream vision. As poetry, ''The Romance of the Rose'' is a notable instance of courtly literature, purporting to pro ...
'' by
Guillaume de Lorris Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1200c. 1240) was a French scholar and poet from Lorris. He was the author of the first section of the ''Roman de la Rose''. Little is known about him, other than that he wrote the earlier section of the poem around 1230 ...
and
Jean de Meung Jean de Meun (or de Meung, ) () was a French author best known for his continuation of the ''Roman de la Rose''. Life He was born Jean Clopinel or Jean Chopinel at Meung-sur-Loire. Tradition asserts that he studied at the University of Paris. He w ...
. The ''Siege of the Castle of Love'' (or "Assault on" etc.), at the left on the lid, is a fanciful scene of courtly romance, where knights attack a castle defended by ladies and a cupid, with both sides throwing roses as missiles. This subject does not, as is sometimes claimed, appear in the ''Roman de la Rose'', and first appears in art not long before the date of the casket, as one of few secular scenes in the illuminated manuscript known as the
Peterborough Psalter The Peterborough Psalter is a name given to two different illuminated manuscripts psalters produced in the scriptorium of Peterborough Abbey. One, from the early 13th century, is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; the other, from the early ...
of 1299–1328. But such a scene was staged and acted out by "many gentlemen and twelve of the fairest and gayest ladies of Padua" as part of a festival at Treviso in 1214, a century earlier. In the center knights joust in front of ladies. The scene at right has differing interpretations: either the victor, whose shield carried three roses, receives a bouquet of roses from a lady as prize, or, more likely, the tournament continues, now between the ladies, fighting with flowers, and the knights using "oak branches". This is the only scene on the lid that differs in the British Museum and Paris caskets, where the siege of the castle continues in the section at furthest right. A variation of this set of scenes has examples in the
Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egypt ...
, Detroit Institute of Arts,
Château de Boulogne-sur-Mer The Château de Boulogne-sur-Mer is a castle in the French seaport of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the Pas-de-Calais ''département''. It houses the Boulogne museum. The castle was built in the 13th century by Philippe Hurepel (1180-1234), count of Bo ...
, Walker Art Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art: in the latter (17.190.173) there is an elopement scene at left, then the two central sections are the tournament, with the attack on the Castle of Love behind the elopement at left, and in the last section on the right. The front of the casket has, from the left: Aristotle teaching
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
, Phyllis riding Aristotle, watched by Alexander from a window, and at the right, old people arriving at the Fountain of Youth, and young naked people in it. ''Phyllis riding Aristotle'' is the "quintessential image from the
Power of Women The "Power of Women" (german: Weibermacht) is a medieval and Renaissance artistic and literary topos, showing "heroic or wise men dominated by women", presenting "an admonitory and often humorous inversion of the male-dominated sexual hierarc ...
topos", which was beginning its long career in art at this time. The Fountain of Youth is a regularly occurring scene, of Eastern origin, that shows old people being carried to a miraculous spring which immediately turns them into beautiful young people, one of the relatively few scenes in medieval art where figures are not just "naked" but "nude". All three scenes are the same in the British Museum casket, and the Walters also has a side from a French casket of similar date but less high-quality carving, showing the first two of these scenes, but changing the last (Walters 71196, shown below). The Walters also has mirror-cases with other examples of the ''Siege of the Castle of Love'' and the ''Fountain of Youth''. The rear side of the casket contains scenes from
Arthurian romance The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Western ...
described in the
Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist c ...
database of Gothic ivories as: "
Gawain Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
in armour fighting the lion; Lancelot crossing the sword bridge, with spears falling from the sky;
Gawain Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
on the perilous bed; bed on wheels and with bells; lion; shield with a lion's paw; spears falling from the sky; the three maidens at the Château Merveil". The sword bridge features in '' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'' by
Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (Modern ; fro, Crestien de Troies ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on Arthurian subjects, and for first writing of Lancelot, Percival and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's works, including '' ...
, and the perilous bed in his ''
Perceval, the Story of the Grail ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'' (french: Perceval ou le Conte du Graal) is the unfinished fifth verse romance by Chrétien de Troyes, written by him in Old French in the late 12th century. Later authors added 54,000 more lines in what are kn ...
''. Both the Walters and British Museum caskets have the same scenes and compositions here, which both depart from the literary sources by having the rain of swords falling not only on Gawain on the bed, but also on Lancelot on the bridge, suggesting that the ivory-carver's or designer's contact with the literature was indirect. The two ends show other Arthurian scenes: the adulterous lovers Tristan and Iseult are spied upon by Iseult's husband King Mark of Cornwall, hiding in a tree; his face can be seen reflected in the pool below, which they see, enabling them to switch to innocent conversation. This end also has a scene with a wounded
unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
, a maiden and a man with holding a spear which has been run through the unicorn, in a version of the subject of ''
The Hunt of the Unicorn ''The Hunt of the Unicorn'' or the ''Unicorn Tapestries'' (french: La Chasse à la licorne) is a series of seven tapestries made in the South Netherlands around 1495–1505, and now in The Cloisters in New York. They were possibly designed in ...
'' where the maiden has been used to lure the unicorn to his death. The other end has a scene with Galahad. File:Casket with the castle of love BM PE 1856 0623 166.jpg, View of the British Museum casket File:Mnma, casket with assoulkt to the castle of Love and other romance scenes, paris 1300-1310, ivory 02.JPG, Lid of the Paris casket File:French - Casket with Scenes of Romances - Walters 71264 - Right.jpg, Walters, end, '' Galahad receiving the keys to the Castle of the Maidens'' File:A woman defends her castle.jpg, Not all images show women giving up their castle File:French - Casket with Scenes of Romances - Walters 71264 - Top Front.jpg, Walters, front view File:Mnma, casket with assoulkt to the castle of Love and other romance scenes, paris 1300-1310, ivory 01.JPG, Paris: a different scene at left, as a knight rescues a lady from a
woodwose The wild man, wild man of the woods, or woodwose/wodewose is a mythical figure that appears in the art and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to '' Silvanus'', the Roman god of the woodl ...
, and the same Galahad scene at right File:Mnma, casket with assoulkt to the castle of Love and other romance scenes, paris 1300-1310, ivory 03.JPG, Paris: the same two Aristotle scenes (left), and two different ones to right. File:French - Box Front with Scenes of Alexander and Pyramus - Walters 71196.jpg, Walters 71196, a different French box panel with two of the same scenes File:French - Mirror Cover with the Fountain of Youth - Walters 71170.jpg, Walters 71170, a more common ivory mirror case with a ''Fountain of Youth'' File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. - The Fountain of Youth - WGA05707.jpg, ''Fountain of Youth'' by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1546 File:Siege castle love Louvre OA6933.jpg, ''Siege of the Castle of Love'' on a mirror-case in the Louvre, 1350–1370; the ladies are losing. File:Master Of The Housebook - Aristotle and Phyllis - WGA14556.jpg,
Master of the Housebook Master of the Housebook and Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet are two names used for an engraver and painter working in South Germany in the last quarter of the 15th century. He is apparently the first artist to use drypoint, a form of engraving ...
, ''Aristotle and Phyllis'', 15th-century engraving File:The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestry 5.jpg, One of the tapestry series ''
The Hunt of the Unicorn ''The Hunt of the Unicorn'' or the ''Unicorn Tapestries'' (french: La Chasse à la licorne) is a series of seven tapestries made in the South Netherlands around 1495–1505, and now in The Cloisters in New York. They were possibly designed in ...
'', 1495–1505, Flanders?


Gothic ivories database

The
Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist c ...
maintains a database of over 5,000 Gothic ivories. The database catalogues the surviving composite caskets and the known fragments as follows: *
Barber Institute of Fine Arts The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is an art gallery and concert hall in Birmingham, England. It is situated in purpose-built premises on the campus of the University of Birmingham. The Grade I listed Art Deco building was designed by Robert A ...

Inv. 39.26
*
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

1856,0623.166 (Dalton 368)
*
Château de Boulogne-sur-Mer The Château de Boulogne-sur-Mer is a castle in the French seaport of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the Pas-de-Calais ''département''. It houses the Boulogne museum. The castle was built in the 13th century by Philippe Hurepel (1180-1234), count of Bo ...

Inv. 408
(fragment) *
Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egypt ...

1978.39a
(three fragments) * Cluny Museum,
Cl. 23840
* Cracow Cathedral Treasury
S/n
* Detroit Institute of Arts
1997.6
(fragment) * Hermitage Museum
Inv. F 2912
* Louvre
MRR77
* Metropolitan Museum of Art
17.190.173; 1988.16
(back panel of the dismantled casket referred below) * Victoria and Albert Museum (one example)
146-1866
(no romance scenes) * Walker Art Gallery
M 8052
(fragment) * Walters Art Museum
71.264
*
Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...
,G-73-60
(the Gort casket, discovered in a
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
(UK) junk shop in 1945) In addition there are fragments from a dismantled casket, known from an 18th-century engraving, whose locations are unknown, save the back panel which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2003.131.2): * Unknown location
S/n


Notes


References

* "BM database"
Entry
on the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
database for their casket * Carns, Paula Mae. “Compilatio in Ivory: The Composite Casket in the Metropolitan Museum”. Gesta 44.2 (2005): 69–88
JStor
* "Courtauld"

of Gothic ivories for the Walters casket (with bibliography etc.). * "Gardner's", Kleiner S. Fred, Mamiya J. Christin. ''Gardner’s Art Through the Ages''. 12th Edition. 10 Davis Drive, Belmont, CA: Joan Keyes, 2005 p. 363-4
google books
* Loomis, Roger Sherman, "The Allegorical Siege in the Art of the Middle Ages", ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1919), pp. 255–269
JSTOR (free)
* Robinson, James. ''Masterpieces of Medieval Art'', 2008, British Museum Press, * Russell, H Diane, ''Eva/Ave; Women in Renaissance and Baroque Prints'', National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990, * Smith, Susan L., ''The Power of Women: A Topos in Medieval Art and Literature.'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995, * "Walters"
Walters database


External links


Virtual Model of Walters 71264
an interactive 3D model (on Sketchfab)
The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material (no. 11) on casket 17.190.173 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was before the original front 1988.16 was discovered and now in place. This original front differs from the formerly supplied replacement front (a fragment from a private collection) in the two right images, which are of the
Pyramus and Thisbe Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors. Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their r ...
legend rather than the Fountain of Youth described in the catalogue. {{DEFAULTSORT:Castle of Love and Knights Jousting Ivory works of art Gothic art 14th-century sculptures Collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Courtly love Iconography Arthurian art