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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. 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. 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