1 Emily Ott

French Composite Caskets and the Loss of Innocence

Carvers in fourteenth-century Paris created many of the elephant ivory caskets that

contain secular imagery from popular romance. The workshops created objects for the female

toilette like small caskets, mirror cases, and combs. Almost every image found on these ivories

can be traced to a literary source. A poem called Huon de Bordeaux describes the seemingly

simple illustration of two figures playing chess (Fig. 1).1 The imagery found on these objects

would have reminded the medieval viewer of stories, either oral or written. Along with the

stories’ plot, the overall moral of the story would be brought to mind. An example of a modern

moralized image could be the visual association of a tortoise and hare (Fig. 2). If the viewer is

versed in the story, the fabled term of “slow and steady wins the race” comes to mind. The

choice of scene is also significant to the viewer. The ivories (along with most Medieval art) were

programmed by male artists, purchased by men, and gifted by a man to a woman. In a mid-

thirteenth century treatise by Andreas Capellanus called De Arte Honeste Amandi, the proper gift

for a lady to accept from a man included “any little gift which may be useful for the care of a

person or pleasing to look at or which may call the lover to her mind.” 2 Just like the treatise, the

objects serve as a lesson or guidebook to the implications of love created by men with women as

the recipient. The object would call to mind the intentions of the giver. The selections of scenes

and their relationship to one another create a unique story using an amalgamation of characters

and events from well-known narratives. This new discourse is one of submission, and a loss of

the recipient’s innocence.

1 Suzanna Peterson, “Aspects of Courtly Love as Seen in Gothic Ivories” (MA Thesis, Nothern Illinois University, 1982) 18. 2 John Stevens, Medival Romance (New York: The Norton Library, 1974) 31.

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Paula Mae Carns relates this technique to the literary term compilatio. “Simply put,

compilatio is the grouping of diverse texts in manuscripts around specific themes to make an

overarching statement.” 3 The caskets seem to illustrate this idea well, but Carns believes “the

box’s carved program expresses a medieval historical overview on love.” Many of the images

have nothing to do with what is understood as love, and serve as an agent of communication to

the recipient, i.e.: a medieval noblewoman. Osborne Dalton analyzed the British Museum casket

(Fig. 4) and writes, “the subjects with which they were carved were those considered appropriate

to their usual destination as wedding gifts, consisting of episodes selected for the glorification of

true love, with the occasional addition of a comic scene intended to point a moral against futile

or unseasonable passion.” After a close analysis of the caskets, it is apparent that these images

make a distinct critique of the complicated subject known as Courtly Love. Frederick Baekeland

discusses the theme of Courtly Love found on these ivories.In Two Kinds of Symbolism in a

Gothic Ivory Casket, Baekeland notes, “The facts of everyday life seemed to contradict the tenets

of chivalry and courtly love at almost every step.” 4 The great author of fiction, C. S. Lewis, also

wrote about the complicated subject of Courtly Love in his book The Allegory of Love:

“The sentiment [of Courtly Love], of course, is love, but love of a highly specialized sort, which characteristics may be enumerated as Humility, Courtesy, Adultery and the Religion of Love. The lover is always abject. Obedience to his lady’s lightest wish, however whimsical, and silent acquiescence in her rebukes, however unjust, are the only virtues he dares to claim. There is a service of love closely modeled on the service, which a feudal vassal owes to his lord. The lover is the lady’s ‘man.’ He addresses her as midons, which etymologically represents not ‘my lady’ but ‘my lord.’ The whole attitude has been rightly described as ‘a feudalization of love’.” 5

3 Paula Mae Carns, “Compilatio in Ivory: The Composite Casket of the Metropolitan Museum,” Gesta 44.2 (2005): 70. 4 Frederick Baekeland “Two Kinds of Symbolism in a Gothic Ivory Casket,” Psychoanlytic Study of Society, VI (1975): 30. 5 C.S. Lewis The Allegory of Love. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), 2 – 3.

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It is plain that Lewis also believes that the nature of Courtly Love is ridiculous and

counters medieval romantic realities. The entire idea of Courtly Love is seemingly only obtained

through adultery, which is a common aspect of the scenes on these caskets. If the caskets were

truly wedding gifts, they would serve as a parody to the endeavor that is known as Courtly Love.

According to Eileen Power, “we have seen that as a rule she [medieval well-born girl] married,

that she married young and that she married the man selected for her by her father.” 6 These

caskets were gifts to a woman that is coming-of-age, or reaching maturity. They served as

symbols to the loss their innocence, and the loss of what was understood as love. In practices of

Christianity dating to the Byzantine Empire, an emphasis on Mary’s perpetual virginity led to an

irrevocable loss of purity on the occasion of marriage. Understanding this will help make

connections to a new theme that an analysis of the text-to-image might overlook.

Art historians have separated medieval ivories into two distinct categories: religious and

secular. What is known as religious ivories are mostly devotional diptychs (Fig. 3) or

freestanding statues. These intimately sized pieces were used in the daily prayers of a wealthy

individual or private institution, like a monastery. Other than devotion, they served no other

purpose. The images found on the caskets are considered specifically secular, however Frederick

Baekeland approaches the caskets psychoanalytically, and he saw a “marked tendency of the

medieval mind to see religious symbolism in almost everything, to embody itself in images, and

to reduce all things to a general type.” 7 These medieval objects are continuously analyzed with a

purely secular eye, but they should be considered using the religiously veiled eye that ruled the

Middle Ages.

6 Eileen Powers, Medieval Women (Cambridge University Press. 1995), 33. 7 Baekeland, “Two Kinds of Symbolism in a Gothic Ivory Casket,” 34.

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There will be three composite caskets to be analyzed and compared. The first is found at

the British Museum in London. It dates from 1325 – 1350 and was made in Paris (Fig. 4). It will

be referred to as the British Museum Casket. The second is found at the Metropolitan Museum of

Art in New York City. It dates from 1310 – 1330 and was also made in Paris (Fig. 5). It will be

referred to as the Morgan casket, in reference to its donor, J.P. Morgan. The final casket is found

at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore. It dates from 1330 – 1350 in Paris (Fig. 6). It will be

referred to as the Walters casket. All three are relatively similar in size and made from elephant

ivory. The purpose of this paper is to understand the narratives, and connect the essential aspect

of each scene to the experience of the irrevocable loss of innocence. The slight variations among

the caskets are too plentiful to dwell upon, however there are a few scene variations in the

Morgan Casket (Fig. 5) that bring in new literary sources like Pyramus and Thisbe, and the

Wodehouse. Also, compositional aesthetics were taken into consideration in the creation of the

visual programs, and have led to variations in text-to-image translations. These variations give

cues to the viewer that the scenes should be thematically linked, and therefore thought of as a

new discourse. The following paragraphs will be a careful analysis of the imagery on the caskets

in a panel-by-panel examination. The literary sources will draw out the important themes that

would have been evoked by the imagery, in the fashion of a moralized image. The choice of

scene will draw out the message of the program in the same effect as compilatio on literature.

Medieval literary sources are varied and problematic because multiple authors and incomplete

variations create uncertainty in a manuscript’s validity. A reliance on unenthusiastic translators

can lead to other problems. For the sake of this argument, however, the moral or lesson will

suffice, and any text-to-imagery matches help verify the text’s validity. Any anomalies or

apparent changes in the story will be attributed to the carver’s creation of a new discourse.

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The tops, or lids, of the caskets will be the first topic of discussion (Fig. 7). A visual

hierarchy to the images has not concerned many scholars. But like the Roman Projecta Casket

dating from middle to late 4th century currently in the British Museum (Fig. 8), the top of the box

is read first, and the image directly below the lid on the front is read second. The shape of the

Projecta casket is different in that each side has three facets that are read together. In the case of

the ivory caskets, the top is read first, the natural progression would be the side that bears the

lock, or the front (Fig. 9). The Projecta casket is a complicated discussion of a woman’s identity

within the confines of antiquity. Its existence illustrates the careful environment of the woman’s

toilette has survived close to a thousand years, and continues to this day. These containers are

significant to a woman’s identity because they probably contained adornment and other

beautifying supplies. Vanity is a form of social survival. 8 The extensiveness of her toilette

reflected status and social class.

Each side of each casket shows slight variations in the scenes, but the basic composition

and subject remain remarkably similar. A visual symmetry is maintained throughout each casket,

and the truest form is found on the lids, with the tilting lances of the jousting knights on

horseback (Fig. 7). They are heralded by mirrored trumpeters and viewed by women in an upper

register. A lengthy poem known as Le Roman de la Rose by authors Guillaume de Lorris and

Jean de Meun serves at the lids’ literary source. The words create a vivid allegorical image of a

sexual encounter with the virginal woman of the protagonist’s choice.9 Although weakly

connected to the image in a strict text-to-image analysis, Le Roman is a good example of

8 Jas Elsner, “Visualising women in Late Antique Rome: the Projecta casket,” Through a Glass Brightly (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2003), 31. 9 Maxwell Luria, A Reader’s Guide to the Roman de la Rose (Connecticut: Show String Press, 1982), 48.

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personification allegory, which is understood to be the subjects on the lids of these caskets.10 The

second part of the poem is explained by Maxwell Luria in A Reader’s Guide to the Roman de la

Rose as the Conquest of the Rose. The ivory carvers took the words and made the allegorical

virtues of Fair Welcome, Courtesy, Pity, and Openness into female figures that protect the Castle

of Love. The personification allegory found in Le Roman was an ode to classical mythology. The

Morgan casket’s inclusion of a story by the Roman poet Ovid (Pyramus and Thisbe) also shows

the medieval interest in classical lessons.11

Like the rest of the casket, the lid is split into multiple scenes (Fig. 7): “1. (Middle)

Tournament, 2. God of Love’s court and amorous activities, and 3. Actual siege.”12 Even if the

caskets do not illustrate Le Roman de la Rose, it is still appropriate to analyze this kind of

personified allegory with the imagery on the lid. It is also significant to note that the lid contains

the most variations of the panels, as if the lack of a solid literary source led the carvers astray.

The summary of the poem and the image conclude in submission: the lid of the British Museum

casket shows a woman giving a key to a knight. Submission is an aspect of marriage that was

guarded by medieval law. Women had few rights to their bodies, which were considered vessels

for heirs and property of their husbands. Women knew that virtue must be guarded, but

ultimately given up to their lawful husbands. Each lid shows a slightly different scene of

submission (Fig. 7). The Morgan casket is especially unusual because the scene of submission is

followed by a scene of elopement and escape via boat. These variations create a slightly different

discourse for each casket. The Morgan casket has many variations that point to the carver’s

intended discourse, which begins on a slightly more adventurous, or rebellious note.

10 Ibid., 3. 11 Ibid., 36. 12 Carns, “Compilatio in Ivory,” 82.

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The front of the box is the next series of images in the hierarchy of arrangement (Fig. 9).

This panel is the first example of variations in scenes found among the three caskets. The left

half depicts a French poem called Lai d’Aristote. Aristotle is depicted as Alexander the Great’s

advisor. The wise philosopher warns Alexander of the distracting nature of passionate love.

Alexander’s foreign mistress has been occupying too much of the Emperor’s time, and Aristotle

chastises Alexander for neglecting his imperial duties. Angered by Alexander’s sudden distance,

the young lady flaunts herself in front of Aristotle, whom she understands to be the cause of the

shift. She convinces Aristotle to be ridden around like a horse in the yard. Love, or lascivious

lust rather, overpowers Wisdom personified in the philosopher. Alexander watches from a tower,

and learns a lesson in the power of a woman’s lure.13 The Bibliothèque Nationale in France has a

Manuscript that contains the tale. Eichman and DuVal have translated the Old French, and the

allegorical lesson is plain:

“After Nature summons him, Love makes a fool of a wise man, for it made the best scholar in the world get saddled like a packhorse.14 Aristotle later states: “In one hour, Love, which taxes and devours all, has undone everything I ever learned and read.” 15

This lesson of the power of love is made comical by the humiliation of the Aristotle. This scene

concludes with the idea that love, more accurately blind lust, will conquer all sense. This scene

can serve as a warning to the viewer as a deterrent to passionate love, as it leads to humiliation.

On the Walters and British Museum caskets, the scene next to Aristotle shows old or sick

people walking towards the fountain, some use canes and others must be carried. This scene

depicts part of the Alexander Romances known as the Fountain of Youth. Alexander was thought

13 Baekeland, “Two Kinds of Symbolism,” 45. 14 Raymond Eichman, editor, The French Fabliau B.N. MS.837 vol. 1 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1984), 111. 15 Ibid., 113.

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to have been in search of three fountains. According to Donald Maddox in The Medieval French

Alexander, there was “one [fountain] that revives the dead, one that restores youth, and one that

confers immortality.” 16 Laurence Harf-Lancer also wrote about the medieval view of Alexander,

and he said, “The defining quality of Alexander is the portrayal of his lack of moderation.” 17 He

must conquer and possess everything, including immortality. We know he did not achieve this

goal, but the Fountain of Youth that would have been known to a French Medieval ivory carver

to have originated with Alexander Romances, and would have symbolized excess and obsession.

Once in the fountain, the people are cured of their senility and illness and appear young and

attractive. The water spews from the mouths of sculpted heads, as if the rejuvenating essence of

the fountain comes of a being that has mythical force. “The fountain was a conventional symbol

of the life-force of man and all things.” 18 The end of this life source (of one’s distance from the

fountain) is signaled by age. The thrills of Courtly Love are reserved for the fresh and vivacious.

A married woman is no longer among this type of person. Victims of Courtly Love despise all

that is aged and old. A mythical Fountain of Youth is the victim’s only sustenance. The Fountain

of Youth is paired with Aristotle on the front of two caskets. They contrast the youth and aged.

The flaw of love is seen in old Aristotle, and the triumph is found in the unattainable youth.

The Morgan casket replaces the Fountain of Youth scene with the tragic romance of

Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. However, the carver of the Morgan casket

creates a fountain that mimics the youth restoring fountain (Fig. 7). This could be an

acknowledgement to the change in discourse. Ovid’s story is thought to have inspired

16 Donald Maddox and Sara Sturm-Maddox, ed, The Medieval French Alexander (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 6. 17 Laurence Harf-Lancer, “Medieval French Alexander Romances,” A Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages (Boston: Brill, 2011), 223. 18 Baekeland “Two Kinds of Symbolism,” 47.

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Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a story of love suspended in youth by untimely death. Ovid’s

Pyramus and Thisbe have been in love since childhood, but their parents keep them apart. One

day Thisbe finds a hole in the wall between their family homes, and makes plans with Pyramus

to meet at a fountain. 19 The story continues:

“From far off, Thisbe sees [a lioness] in the moonlight, and with trembling steps, runs into a dark cave. But in her flight, she drops her cloak and leaves it behind her on the ground. Now, when the savage lioness has had her fill of water and heads back to the woods, by chance she finds that cloak (without the girl) and pauses there to mangle it in her ferocious jaws…Arriving later…[Pyramus] carries Thisbe’s cloak to the tree of their pact, and presses tears and kisses on the fabric. ‘Drink my blood now,’ he says, drawing his sword, and thrusting it at once in his own guts: a fatal blow; dying, he draws the blade out of his burning wound, and his lifeblood follows it, jetting high into the air, as he lies on his back upon the ground…Thisbe recognizes her lover’s body and begins to beat her unoffending arms with small, hard fists, tearing her hair out; she embraces him, and the tears she sheds there mingle with his blood…She holds the sword tip underneath her breast and then falls forward on the still-warm blade.” 20

The image does not follow the text very accurately, for Thisbe hides in a tree, and her repeated

image falls on Pyramus’ sword before he draws it out of his own chest. These changes can be

attributed to the carvers’ solution to a compositional problem. Each scene is confined to a tall

and narrow space where a wider space would have been more spatially comfortable. It could also

be attributed to the programmer’s plan of a new discourse. The death scene is sped up to a more

dramatic pace. The casket’s depiction shows Thisbe throw herself on Pyramus’ back in a fit of

despair, similar to her lover’s fit moments before. This new discourse is a message of warning to

the female recipient. It illustrates the deathly nature of passionate love. These characters are pure

in their own ancient myth, but when paired with characters like Aristotle and Alexander’s

mistress, they lose their purity and their deadly faults show clearly. Star-crossed lovers moralize

love that cannot exist on earth. This scene highlights the tragic nature of innocent love: its

unattainable nature. Marriage and maturity correspond with inaccessibility to pure and guiltless

19 Carns, “Compilatio in Ivory,” 72 20 Charles Martin, trans., Ovid’s Metamorphoses (New York: Norton, 2004), 125 – 130.

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love. Thisbe’s appearance in the tree can also be attributed to the carver’s desire for visual

symmetry. The scene adjacent shows Alexander high in a tower, and the scene of the Tristan and

Iseult shows King Mark in a tree. The elevation gives Thisbe the role of observer, a parallel to

Alexander and King Mark. The role as observer makes each character helpless, yet

knowledgeable, a common literary device of third-person narrative.

The reading of this casket becomes difficult to predict beyond the front following the lid.

For the sake of this discussion, the next panel in the progression will be the right end (Fig. 10) of

the casket in reflection of reading script from left to right. The Morgan casket contains an

additional scene here, and Roger Loomis identifies the interesting image as the story of the

Wodehouse. A story from an illustrated book of hours points our image towards a story of

ingratitude. Loomis writes:

“The explanatory legends of the Taymouth Horae give us the gist of the tale. Two damsels went out one day to gather flowers. A wodehouse (wild man), lurking in the woods, pounces upon one of them and after a struggle carries her away. An old knight, Enyas by name, comes to her rescue, dispatches the monster, and leaves its bleeding carcass on the ground. At first the lady pours forth pretestations of gratitude. Presently, as they walk, they are met by a young knight, who insolently demands that Enyas surrender the lady to his care. Enyas agrees that she be allowed to take her choice between them.” 21

The girl chooses the younger knight, and the young knight then demands Enyas’ hound as further

spoils. The dog is also given a choice, and loyally chooses Enyas. This angers the conceited

knight, but Enyas quickly slays him in anger and impatience. The girl begs to return to Enyas,

but he rebukes her for her ingratitude and leaves her in the forest to be mauled by bears.22 The

wodehouse symbolizes wild lust, the girl: ingratitude. This scene is a warning against cocky and

self-assured youth and promotes the wisdom procured with age. Honorable accomplishments of

knighthood are found in aged knights like Enyas. The particular moment that was chosen relates

21 Roger Sherman Loomis, “A Medieval Ivory Casket,” Art in America 5 (1964): 21. 22 Baekeland, “Two Kinds of Symbolism,” 42.

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to the adjacent scene in that it captures the moment that Enyas saves the young girl, which is

similar to the pure and gallant deeds of Galahad.

The right end of each casket contains the depiction of the Arthurian Knight known as

Galahad (Fig. 10). He is given the key to the Castle of Maidens due to his bravery against seven

invaders, and also due to his virginity. Galahad is pure, so he can safeguard a castle of vulnerable

women. This transaction shows the paradox of virginity’s power 23

“And there met Sir Galahad an old man clothed in religious clothing, and said: Sir, have here the keys of this castle. Then Sir Galahad opened the gates, and saw so much people in the streets that he might not number them, and all said: Sir, ye be welcome, for long have we abiden here our deliverance.” 24

Galahad is considered the most noble of Arthur’s knights, due his maintained virginity, and his

quest for the Grail; a popular adventure in search for the chalice used by Christ during the Last

Supper. According to Carns, Galahad is different from the other men found on the casket

because there is no implication of submission on the women’s part.25 Galahad’s virginity makes

him a welcome savior to the Castle of Maidens, solely due to his lack of interest in the residents.

This shows the true nature of the value of virginity. It is only valuable when it is preserved, yet

its preservation is a lonely battle: yet another warning to the casket’s owner.

On the back panel (Fig. 11), the leftmost scene shows a knight fighting a lion. There are

many discussions on the knight’s identity as either Lancelot or Gawain, but it is only necessary

to understand that a fight with a lion would indicate something specific to the viewer.26 The

images on the back panel can be found in Chretien de Troyes’ Perceval and Lancelot. Gawain is

introduced as a later character in Perceval, and completes the story as protagonist. He heads out

23 Carns, “Compilatio in Ivory,” 81. 24 Sir Thomas Malroy, Morte D’Arthur (London: MacMillan and Co. 1868), 360. 25 Carns, “Compilatio in Ivory,” 81. 26 Ibid., 76.

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on adventures that mostly include women and fighting.27 The scene on the left of the back panel

could illustrate the action-packed fight with a lion that left its paws embedded in Gawain’s

shield. The imagery is interesting in that it lacks a dynamism that is apparent in every other

scene. Frank Baekeland observes that the fight looks more like heraldry than an action scene.28

The lack of narrative movement encourages the viewer to look to the next scene for thematic

answers.

The adjacent scene shows Lancelot crossing the Sword Bridge. This comes from the

Arthurian Tale where Queen Guinevere is trapped in Meleagant’s castle. Guinevere is not only

King Arthur’s Queen, but also subject of Lancelot’s adulterous affection. Lancelot’s final

treacherous obstacle in his quest to save her is a bridge made of a large sword. D.D.R. Owen

translates Chretien de Troyes’ Lancelot and the scene is drawn from this excerpt:

“This bridge over the cold water consisted of a polished, gleaming sword; but it was a strong, stout sword as long as two lances…In the way that suited him he crosses over very painfully and in great distress, wounding himself on hands, knees and feet. But Love, who guides and leads him on, gives him complete comfort and relief, so that all his suffering is pleasant to him.” 29

The lesson in this image is indicated by the truly ridiculous nature of Lancelot’s blind

perseverance. The lack of foresight will lead to a painful realization after the excitement has

passed. This gives the viewer a sense of grudging responsibility toward the hopelessly motivated

Lancelot. The adjacent struggle with the lion is connected to Lancelot and the rest of the back

panel in that a young knight’s valor is achieved through terrifying and life-threatening endeavors.

These were the type of men that pursue married women: reckless and dangerous knights. The

swords overhead are not accurate to Lancelot’s story but help to recreate the visual symmetry

that is apparent on the top and front of the caskets, and connect the scenes of the back panel

27 D.D.R. Owen, trans. Arthurian romances by Chretien de Troyes (London : C.E. Tuttle, 1991). 28 Baekeland, “Two Kinds of Symbolism,” 38. 29 Owen, Arthurian romances by Chretien de Troyes, 225-226.

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thematically. The hanging spears, lances, and swords belong to the next scene. By visually

connecting the scenes, the artist creates a mental connection to young, reckless knights.

The next scene depicts the Authurian knight Gawain in an adventure known as the

Perilous Bed. Owen translates De Troyes’:

My lord Gawain told him: “Sir, when I sat on the bed, there was a very great commotion in the hall. Don’t think I’m lying to you, but the bed-cords screamed out and a set of bells hanging from them rang; and the windows that were closed opened of their own accord; then I was struck on the shield by bolts and polished arrows. And it still has in it the claws of a great, fierce lion with a bristling mane that had been chained up in vaulted chamber for a long time. That lion was set on me, realeased by a churl; and it hurled itself at me so violently, struck my shield and dug in its claws so hard that it couldn’t pull them out again. If you think it left no signs, just look at the claws still here! For, thank God, I sliced off its head and feet at the same time. What do you make of this evidence?” 30

This text-to-image exercise is drowning in phallic symbols, to the point that they serve little

interest, even to the medieval woman. There is enough Freudian information regarding swords,

lances and horns to go on forever. The lesson of this story is a heavily weighed allegory to the

dangers of the happenings within a marriage bed. Gawain was wearing armor that luckily

allowed him to live to tell the tale. This armor is a symbol of the woman’s will and dignity, for

there is nothing else between her and the duties of a marriage bed. Gawain’s adventure is told

with excitement and wonder, but the women in the next scene show the proper reaction to

Gawain and Lancelot’s adventures: that is of pragmatic distaste.

The final scene found on the back panel shows a small gathering of woman that appear to

be reacting to the scene of the Perilous Bed. 31 In the Morgan casket, one woman is depicted in

an unusual posture. Scholar Linda Gross discusses this particular gesture in regards to another

ivory casket depicting scenes from a story called La Chastelaine de Vergi. The gesture indicates

death in La Chastelaine: “The artist has communicated her death by the way her arms are

30 Owen, Arthurian romances by Chretien de Troyes 488 31 Carns, “Compilatio in Ivory,” 79/

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stretched out slightly away from her body, with the palms inward.” 32 (Fig. 12) La Chastelaine is

horizontal, which solidifies her death. The woman on the Morgan caskets remains standing, yet

supported by a neighboring woman. The gesture is indicating shock, or a version of death by

faintness. In the devotional diptych referred to above (Fig. 3), a scene of Mary at the Crucifixion

shows a similar position (Fig. 13). Mary was often depicted in this position as a gesture of grief.

We can take this information and relate the scene of the Maidens on the Morgan casket to a

posture of shocked judgment towards the knight’s heedless behavior.

The final panel shows virtually the same image for each casket (Fig. 14). The left end

scene depicts the rendezvous of Tristan and Iseult at yet another fountain. According to Paula

Mae Carns in Compilatio in Ivory, this was a popular medieval story: “Scholars postulate that a

now-lost original story or several oral tales sharing a basic story line inspired the different

branches of the legend.33 At the beginning of the tale, they take a potion that makes them fall

helplessly in love, so they succumb to the exquisite pain of star-crossed love and begin an affair.

A servant tells King Mark (Isolde’s husband) of their rendezvous, so King Mark hides in a tree in

order to confront their adulterous affair. Fortunately, they see his reflection in the fountain, and

do not speak of love. They instead convince Mark that they are virtuous.

“[Iseult] came, and Tristan watched her motionless. Above him in the tree he heard the click of the arrow when it fits the string. She came, but with more prudence than her wont, thinking, “What has passed, that Tristan does not come to meet me? He has seen some foe.” Suddenly, by the clear moonshine, she also saw the King’s shadow in the fount. She showed the wit of women well, she did not lift her eyes.”34

It would appear that Iseult’s wit is the sole lesson to the woman viewer. Love, especially in an

adulterous form, is attainable, through caution and deceit. Jealous husbands create an excitement

32 Laila Gross, “La Chastelaine de Vergi Carved in Ivory.,” Viator 10 (1979): 315. 33 Carns, “Compilatio in Ivory,” 74. 34 “The Romance of Tristan and Iseult,” Project Gutenberg, Accessed Nov. 20, 2012. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14244/14244-h/14244-h.htm

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that could never be gained within marriage, due to the basic nature of lawful union. However, a

husband would not welcome an image of successful adultery as a gift to his wife. This is where

the discourse among the other images comes into play. A figure in a tower is repeated frequently:

The women within the Castle of Love, Alexander watching from a tower, Thisbe hiding in a tree,

and King Mark spying from a tree. The removed observer is a clue to the program’s intent.

Noble women are constantly observed by their household. They should not forget their

husbands’ power, even in his absence.

The fountain is also a repeated aspect, and Carns believes it is an example of what is

known as a stock symbol.35 “In classical literature, fountains or springs (Greek krene, Latin fons)

are sacred to the Muses and sources of poetic inspiration.” 36 A medieval woman might have

seen the fountain as a stock symbol as well, but a symbol loaded with ancient tradition. They

signaled to the viewer to take creative note of the compilatio nature of the casket, to read the

scenes together as a new discourse. This signaling also occurred within the program’s visual

symmetry, and a symmetry of virtue found between Galahad and the opposite scene: the Unicorn

Hunt.

Paired with a scene of the adultery is The Unicorn Hunt. This narrative shows the

climactic scene of the death of a precious unicorn. The literary source is known as a Bestiary:

Bodleian Bestiary 764 entry for the unicorn: “The unicorn…is a little beast, not unlike a young goat, and extraordinarily swift. It had a horn in the middle of its brow, and no hunter can catch it. But it can be caught in the following fashion: a girl who is a virgin is led to the place where it dwells, and is left there alone in the forest. As soon as the unicorn sees her, it leaps into her lap and embraces her, and goes to sleep there; then the hunters capture it and display it in the king’s palace.” 37

35 Carns, “Compilatio in Ivory,” 74. 36 Michael Ferber, Dictionary of Literary Symbols (NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 79. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/niluniv/Doc?id=10070397&ppg=91 37 Carl Lindahl, John McNamara, John Lindow, ed. Medieval Folklore (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 421.

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The lesson of this story rests in the lap of the Virgin. She has the power to harness a magical

beast due to youth and purity. The unicorn’s presence identifies the woman as a virgin; therefore

the unicorn is a symbol of virginity. The hunt of this virginity is a symbol of marriage, and the

loss of innocence. The Unicorn and Galahad (Fig. 10) are placed on the sides of the caskets,

creating a symmetrical anchorage for the theme of the loss of innocence. The owners of the

caskets would view these side panels as part of the journey that led to their position as wife.

Their purity and youth was submitted in exchange for the duties of an adult woman.

The Morgan casket has a decidedly altered discourse with the addition of the Wodehouse

and a couple absconding via boat, and the replacement of the Fountain of Youth with Pyramus

and Thisbe. Its carver appears to be slightly more articulate and creative in the manipulation of

the seemingly set program. The Morgan casket’s program further enriches the theme of a loss of

innocence, and a heightened theme of rebellious self-consciousness that might have been

overlooked by anyone except the mindful female owner.

Like the Projecta casket (Fig. 8), these caskets serve as an object of the female toilette.

Beautification is a mind and time consuming task that society requires. Objects like a casket give

direction to thoughts while beautifying. Most likely, the artists that programmed these objects

understood the calamity known as Courtly Love that was occurring in the fading years of the

Middle Ages. The visual program is a smart discourse of the life and plight of a woman. The

programmers were likely men that understood the allegorical nature of their contemporary

literature, and decided to the use it in a selective and meaningful way. They used the well-known

drama of the fourteenth century and harnessed its narrative power to tell a specific story of

warning against frivolous expectations of love within a marriage.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnet, Peter, editor. Images in Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age. Detroit, Michigan: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1997. Print.

Baekeland, Frederick. “Two Kinds of Symbolism in a Gothic Ivory Casket.” Psychoanalytic Study of Society, VI (1975): 20-52.

Bédier, M. Joseph. The Romance Of Tristan And Iseult. Project Gutenberg. Dec. 3 2003. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14244/14244-h/14244-h.html Carns, Paula Mae. “Compilatio in Ivory: The Composite Casket in the Metropolitan Museum.” Gesta. 44.2 (2005): 69-88. Dalton, Osborne M. “Two Mediaeval Caskets with Subjects from Romance.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. 5.15 (Jun. 1904): 299- 301, 303, 305-307, 309. Eichman, Raymond and John DuVal, editors and translators. The French Fabliau B.N. MS. 837 Vol. 1. New York: Garland Publishing. 1984. Print Elsner, Jas. "Visualising women in Late Antique Rome: the Projecta casket." Through a Glass Brightly: Studies in Byzantine and Medieval Art and Archaeology Presented to David Buckton. Ed. C Entwistle. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2003. 22-36. Ferber, Michael. Dictionary of Literary Symbols. West Nyack, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/niluniv/Doc?id=10070397&ppg=91 Gross, Laila. “La Chastelaine de Vergi Carved in Ivory.” Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 10 (1979): 311-321. Harf-Lancner, Laurence. “Medieval French Alexander Romances.” In A Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages, edited by Z. David Zuwiyya. Boston: Brill, 2011. Lewis, C.S., The Allegory of Love. New York: Oxford University Press, 1958. Print. Lindahl, Carl, John McNamara, John Lindow, editors. Medieval Folklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print. Loomis, Roger Sherman. “A Medieval Ivory Casket.” Art in America. 5 (1964): 19 – 27. Luria, Maxwell, A Reader’s Guide to the Roman de la Rose. Connecticut: Shoe String Press, 1982. Print. Maddox, Donald and Sara Sturm-Maddox, editors. The Medieval French Alexander. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.

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Malroy, Sir Thomas. Morte D’Arthur: Original Ed. Of Caxton Revised for Modern Use. London: MacMillan and Co, 1868. Martin, Charles, translator. Ovid’s Metamorphoses. New York: Norton, 2004. Print. Owen, D.D.R., trans. Arthurian romances by Chretien de Troyes. London : C.E. Tuttle, 1991. Print. Peterson, Suzanna N. “Aspects of Courtly Love as Seen in Gothic Ivories.” MA thesis, Northern Illinois University, 1982. Powers, Eileen. Medieval Women. Cambridge University Press. 1995. Randall, Richard H., Jr. “Popular Romances Carved in Ivory.” In Images in Ivory, edited by Peter Barnet, 63-79. Detroit, Michigan: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1997.

Ross, David J. A. “Allegory and Romance in a Mediaeval French Marriage Casket.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 11 (1948): 112-142. Stevens, John. Medieval Romance. New York: The Norton Library, 1974. Print. Wixom, William D. Treasures from Medival France. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Print.

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FIGURES

Fig. 1. Mirror Case with a Couple Playing Chess

From 1325-1350 in Paris Elephant Ivory, Diameter 9.8cm

Cleveland Museum of Art Image from Peter Barnet’s Images in Ivory.

Fig 2. 'De Lieure & de la Tortuë' (The Hare and the Tortoise) by Marcus Gheeraerts

From 1578 in Bruges, Etching and engraving From 'Esbatement moral des animaux' by

Peeter Heyns Image from V&A Museum website

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/aesops-fables-the-hare-and-the-tortoise/

Fig. 3. Diptych with Scenes of the Life and Passion of Christ From 1375-1400 in Paris

Elephant Ivory, 21.4 x 22.3 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Arts Image from Peter Barnet’s Images in Ivory

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Fig. 4. Ivory casket with scenes from the Romances From 1325-1350 in Paris

Elephant Ivory, 21.2 x 12.7 x 7.3 cm, British Museum Images from the Bristish Museum website and The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs

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Fig. 5. Casket with Scenes from Romance (J. Piermont Morgan) From 1310 – 1330 in Paris

Elephant Ivory, 10.9 x 25.3 x 15.9 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art website

http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/170003990

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Fig. 6. Casket with Scenes from Romances From 1330 – 1350 in Paris

Elephant Ivory 11.5 x 24.6 x 12.4 cm Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Images from the Walters Art Museum website http://art.thewalters.org/detail/5780/casket-with-scenes-of-romances/

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Fig. 7. Details of LID: British Museum, Morgan, and Walters caskets

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Fig. 8. Project Casket From around 380 AD in Rome

Silver with gold gilding 54.9 x 27.9 cm, British Museum Images from the British Museum website

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_projecta_casket.aspx

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Fig. 9. Details of FRONT: British Museum, Morgan, and Walters caskets

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Fig. 10. Details of RIGHT END: British Museum, Morgan, and Walters caskets

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Fig. 11. Details of BACK: British Museum, Morgan, and Walters caskets

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Fig. 12. Casket with Scenes from La Châtelaine de Vergi From 1320 – 1340 in Paris

Elephant Ivory 7.9 x 21.6 x 10.1 Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art website http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/170003998?img=1#fullscreen

Fig. 13. Detail of Fig. 3, Mary at the Crucifixion

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Fig. 14. Details of LEFT END: British Museum, Morgan, and Walters caskets