IVORY CARVINGS 51 



School, the spirit of reverence and earnestness it breathes 

 brings it in Hne with the pr^-Raphaehte paintings of the 

 early Italian masters. The two angels suggest in a marked 

 degree the type made so familiar to us by the half -inspired 

 hand of Fra Angelico, who flourished nearly two centuries 

 after the date of this ivory. Much of the polychrome 

 decoration of this carving still remains ; the flesh, the hair, 

 and the beard are tinted, the lining of the garments is 

 painted sky-blue. For some time only the principal figures 

 of this group were in the Louvre, for which they were ac- 

 quired at the sale of the splendid Soltykoff Collection. 

 In 1878, however, the city of Chambery sent to the Exposi- 

 tion d'Art Retrospective in the Trocadero two angel- 

 figures, which were quickly recognized by connoisseurs as 

 having formed part of the original group, and the munici- 

 pality of Chambery consented to cede them by exchange to 

 the Louvre. That this carving may have been that listed 

 in the inventory of Charles V of France, in 1380, is conjec- 

 tured by M. Emile Molinier* who cites the following item: 

 "Ung couronnement de Nostre-Seigneur a Nostre-Dame, 

 d'yvire, et trois angelotz de mesmes, assiz en ung siege de 

 cedre." That three angels are here noted whereas but two 

 are now to be seen is not considered by Molinier as an ab- 

 solute bar to the identification in view of the occasional 

 inexactness of these early lists. Perhaps, however, as the 

 two angels now in place were only recovered by a happy 

 chance, a third stray angel may be hidden away in some of 

 the many collections of medieval ivories. 



French ivory caTving of the fourteenth century is chiefly 

 distinguished for the chaste beauty of its productions in the 

 field of religious art, but it also offers a few notable examples 

 of works designed to illustrate episodes of secular poetry. 

 One of the most important of these works is a casket of 



*Miisee National du Louvre; "Catalogue des Ivoires," Paris, 1896, p. 115. 



