ALL PRAYER AND NO PLAY: SECULAR IVORY
USES IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE TRIUMPH
OF THE SECULAR AS EVIDENCED BY MANY EUROPEAN IVORY CASKETS

If you have precious things to guard, there is always a need to place them in something special, something elaborate; something that lets the owner and the admirer know just how important these trinkets are.

Everything from important documents to currency, combs barrettes, and even children's playthings have been kept in boxes. Pandora was told not to open that chest of hers, but the box itself was too much of an enticement not to look inside. And the tradition of the story carried over into reality. Boxes--sometimes referred to as "caskets"--were constructed and carved from the earliest times of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans to contain all manner of items. A symbol of status, these caskets not only showed the overwhelming belief in man's dominion over nature by the use of elephant and walrus tusks harvested for the boxes' elaborate decoration, but they also showed the practicality and the attention to material details that oftentimes seemed to be lost in the Medieval preoccupation with the contemplation of the divine.

Elaborately decorated ivory caskets were symbols of status to the wealthy in the early Medieval world. Many spared no expense when it came to their construction, choosing to have the ivory out of which their decorations were carved imported from such countries as West Africa, Egypt, and Arabia. Often, not only were the boxes constructed of ivory, but the ivory was then layered with gold or painted with pigment depending on the wishes of the patron, although the elaborately carved and adorned ivory itself was a decoration since most of these boxes had wood as their base.

Many times, these boxes were presented as gifts to friends or loved ones; many times they were used as gifts to world dignitaries in gratitude for favors or as tokens of good will.(1) In so doing, the dignitaries were showing their importance and that divine dominion bequeathed to them by God. It is common knowledge that the people of the Middle Ages saw themselves as having divine domain over all the earth. Therefore, given express permission by God in Genesis 9:2, 3(7), how much further would one have to go to convince one's self to create works of art at the expense of others? Not very. Ivory, as stated earlier, comes from the tusks of elephants and walrus, and not surprisingly, those animals are killed in the process. But this meant nothing to the people of Medieval Europe; in fact, according to O. Beigbeder(2), ivory was often cultivated and used to recreate other works of art such as paintings and wood, marble or plaster sculptures; and all this was done simply because the patron wished it and because the artist could. Increased demand equals increased production and increased compensation. With all these factors weighing heavily in the artist's mind, what is a little thing like an animal life? How were they to know these animals would come close to extinction in the future? Such is the arrogance which pervaded the Medieval aristocracy and fueled the reliance on ivory.

Even so, these caskets and the exquisite attention given to their construction shows the people of the Middle Ages were interested in concerns other than those of the Heavenly Realm. A.M. Cust, in his book, The Ivory Workers of the Middle Ages, says that these boxes were "indifferently carved" (Cust, 75) but that is hard to believe. As stated above, the work on these pieces is exquisite, the carving intricate and detailed, the figures fluid and alive.

Whatever their outward appearance, these boxes--all boxes--are used to hold material objects. As stated above, they were used in all manner of ways, but most often, they were used to hold toiletries and/or jewelry (Beigbeder, 45) and frequently carried images and scenes on their exterior which reminded the owner of a certain concept. For instance, The Attack on the Castle of Love, from *this lid of a fourteenth century casket celebrates the pursuit of love characterized by the Medieval knight competing for the hand of a beautiful lady. In the same vein, there is a Byzantine casket from the eleventh century commonly known as Casket with Warriors and Dancers* depicting a Bacchanalia, complete with a panther, which was one of the attributes of the Greek god, Dionysus. (1) Most likely this particular casket's images were carved with the intention of reminding the owner of the might of the military (in the inclusion of the warriors) and either the frivolity or the pleasure to be derived from the arts and/or participation in public ceremonies or private celebrations. While there is no concrete explanation of the meaning of the images, this is what I believe them to mean. The information I have on this particular casket* is rather vague when it comes to speculation on the meaning of the images.

Here again, this casket shows the Medieval concerns with every day, secular life and things related to the secular, rather than related to the church. As much as this casket was constructed in the eleventh century and that time period being one of upheaval all over the Christian world, the dancers remind the owner--or in our case, the viewer--of the fact that the world is a place to be enjoyed; life itself is to be enjoyed and celebrated. The warriors on this casket, while armed and adorned as soldiers, do not seem to be involved in battle. Most likely, these are ceremonial warriors--possibly reminiscent of the war or hunting gods in Classical or barbarian pagan rituals? In this way, the entire decoration of this box not only points to the secular, but it also may depict what the artist believed Classical pagan rituals to be like.

Many other ivories of this time period also carry what could be considered pagan images, some just in the sheer fact that the figures are involved in motions not quite religious (see the fourteenth century French Writing Tablet entitled The Coronation of a Lady for an example [Beigbeder 31]; while not a casket carving, it illustrates my point nicely, I think.) While depictions of pagan beliefs and rituals were usually used to prove the point that such behavior was immoral, can we not speculate that in the case of the Casket with Dancers and Warriors the artist was attempting to remind the owner (or the viewer, in our case) that life is not all kneeling, prayer, and penance? As I cannot say for certain--indeed, no one can--I would like to believe this was the purpose of this delightful little object.

Of course, these caskets are not the only places we have seen images such as this. Cases for mirrors were constructed out of ivory and carved with elaborate scenes, some of secular life, some of religious scenes; book covers were also decorated in such a way. The decoration was also, as I have stated above, used as an adornment for public documents, such as the The Anastasius Consular Diptych.

The practice also is not solely a product of the area of Byzantium and the Western European world alone. Even in Islamic art this sort of decoration was seen. The artisans of Medieval Islam were more apt to build an entire box out of ivory, however, the plaques held together with metal rings. Most times these caskets were "either left plain", (St. Claire & McLachlan 45) which is a nice decoration in itself, "or [were] carved with organic designs" (ibid) as were some Frank whalebone caskets of the early Middle Ages.

Yet another example of Medieval interest in the secular can be found in the tiny boxes known as game boxes. These little containers were often carved out of wood and covered in ivory, or the less expensive bone, and were specifically built to house game chips and cards. They were long and thin (17.8 x 14.1 x 7.0 cm St. Clair and McLachlan 60) and just as elaborately carved as the jewelry/document caskets. The images depicted on the exterior most often recorded all manner of diversion, as the Casket with Warriors and Dancers. Hunting expeditions, dancing, various types of games, elaborate animals, birds, and floral patterns, all these elements are often found on these boxes.

The use of decorated ivory for such secular things as game boxes, jewelry and even dowry caskets, secular, decorative plaques, and even cases for mirrors as opposed to reserving the ivory solely for the construction of reliquaries, devotional diptychs, triptychs, and statues lends further proof that people of Medieval times used something more than prayer and devotion to stave off boredom and to lead the patron towards a more light-hearted, creative, if not totally free-thinking, state of being; to freedom of the spirit and mind and ultimately, to the Renaissance, to the Enlightenment, to the future.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.paraphrased from The Glory of Byzantium
2.Beigbeder, O. Ivory: Pleasures and Treasures G.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 1965.
3. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, catalog. Ivory Carvings in Early Medieval England 700-1200. 1974.
4. Cust, A.M. The Ivory Workers of the Middle Ages. London: George Bell and Sons. 1902
5. Cutler, Anthony "A Newly-discovered Byzantine Ivory and its Relatives in London" Burlington Magazine July 1994. pp 430-433
6. St. Clair, Archer And McLachlan, Elizabeth, P. The Carver's Art: Medieval Sculpture in Ivory, Bone, and Horn. The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Jersey. 1989
7. The Holy Bible: Old and New Testaments in the King James Version. Thomas Nelson Inc, New York. 1970 p. 6

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