44 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



having accessories of columns and curtains. Around the 

 design, which though somewhat rude is not lacking in power, 

 runs a meander pattern as framework. This specimen of 

 early German art illustrates both the merits and defects of 

 the time and country and is an excellent example of its kind. 

 The inscription surrounding the figure expresses the literary 

 enthusiasm of the time in monastic circles, as it declares that 

 however precious may be the decoration of the book, the 

 "Sacramentarium" of St. Gregory, its contents are still more 

 precious. This copy belonged originally to the Cathedral 

 of Trent. 



In 1674, the canons of the Cathedral of Metz, feeling 

 themselves under some obligation to Colbert, offered him 

 the ivory treasures of their cathedral. He accepted the gift, 

 and after retaining the valuable and historical objects in 

 his own possession for a time, he donated them to the 

 Bibliotheque Royale. Some further voluntary gifts of 

 ivories were made by the Cathedral chapter of Metz in 

 1802 to this institution, then and now named the Biblio- 

 theque Nationale. The greater number of these ivory 

 book covers had been provided with a broad binding of 

 elaborate metal work, studded with precious stones, pearls, 

 and enamels; in many instances, in the various revolu- 

 tionary disorders and consequent plunderings, certain of 

 the more valuable stones were plucked from their settings, 

 these sometimes remaining empty, while at other times 

 the gaps have been filled up with enamel work or with 

 glass imitations. A notable instance of this wilful mutila- 

 tion of a precious relic of medieval art is the cover of the 

 "Missel de I'abbaye de Saint-Denis," written in the eleventh 

 century. Of the three ivory relief figures that originally 

 adorned it, the central one, that of the Christ, has been 

 wrenched off, doubtless because it bore attached to it 

 some especially valuable jewels; there remain the figures of 



