56 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



to lie smooth after the ceremony of anointing has been per- 

 formed, the hair should be combed with St. Edward's ivory 

 comb. This was no longer to be found among th^ appurte- 

 nances of the regalia when search was made for everything of 

 value by the Parliamentary Commissioners in 1649; they 

 could only find "an old comb of home."* 



The beautiful Sainte Chapelle in Paris, one of the earliest 

 monuments of Gothic art, preserved in 1480 a valuable and 

 striking example of medieval ivory carving, which is described 

 in the inventory made at that date. This was an ivory 

 statuette figuring the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus, set on a 

 silver-gilt base, on which were enamelled the arms of France 

 upborne by four lions. The crown on the Virgin's head was 

 enriched with eight large round pearls and four smaller ones, 

 these being carefully noted as "Orient pearls." On the 

 breast of the image was set a very large square emerald, and 

 on one of the fingers was a golden ring also bearing an emer- 

 ald. On the breast of the child Jesus was placed a cama- 

 heyus (an antique engraved gem).f 



A splendid specimen of early fifteenth-century carving was 

 the work donated by Jean, Due de Berry, in 1408, to the 

 Abbey of Poissy. This is now in the Louvre Museum, hav- 

 ing been taken from the abbey by the Revolutionists in 1794 

 and transported to the Chateau of St. Germain-en-Laye, 

 whence it was transferred to the Louvre April 13, 1796. 

 This is one of the largest carvings in ivory that has ever 

 been executed, and consists of a base, having fourteen niches, 

 and supporting a number of graceful columns and arches 

 on which rest two belfrys. On these are twenty angel fig- 

 ures, ten at the right-hand and ten at the left-hand side; 



*William Jones, "Crowns and Coronations," London, 1902, p. 291. 



tTrfisor de la Sainte Chapelle, Bib. Nat., MS. lat. 9941; fol. 20 of original, and fol. 61 of 

 transcript in author's library from the collection of the late M. E. Molinier, Director of 

 the Louvre. 



