58 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



in Paris, that is to say, a carver of crucifixes, knife-handles, 

 and all other manner of carving, whatever it may be, of 

 bone, ivory, or wood, and of any other materials, whatsoever 

 they may be, can do so freely." It is further specified that 

 the figures must be made of a single piece of ivory, except 

 in the case of crucifixes, which are to be of three pieces.* 

 Title XVIII notes the makers of ivory combs. 



In the "Description de Paris," composed by Guillebert de 

 Metz and dating from 1407, mention is made of a Rue de la 

 Tableterie where dwelt those who made combs and "tables" 

 (plaques) and other " images " of ivory, and in the still earlier 

 "Us et Mestiers de Paris," of Boileau, we are told that the 

 imagiers tailleurs, the image-carvers, were free because their 

 trade was exclusively at the service of Our Lord and of his 

 saints, and pursued to the honour of Holy Church. f 



While but few names of the early French ivory carvers 

 have been preserved for us, we know of Jean le Scelleur, who 

 worked for Philippe V, surnamed Le Long (c. 1293-1322), 

 and for Mahaut, Comtesse d'Artois;| of Jean le Braeillier, 

 mentioned in the inventory of Charles V of France (1337- 

 1380),** and of Jean de Coilly and Jean Aubert, whose serv- 

 ices were employed by the dukes of Burgundy. § Evidently 

 these ivory carvers, however artistic may have been their 

 work, were not put on a par with the painters and sculptors, 

 and this comparative lack of appreciation was not calculated 

 to induce them to sign their works. A pax in the British 

 Museum was at one time believed to furnish the name of a 

 medieval carver, Jean NicoUe, but later research and criti- 



*Boileau, "Le Livre des Mestiers de Paris," ed. Lespinasse and Bonnardot, Paris, 1879. 

 Vol. I. pp. 127, 128. 



tM. Digby Wyatt, "Notices of Sculpture in Ivory," London, 1856, p. 17. 

 JRichard, "Mahout comtesse d'Artois et de Bourgogne," Paris, 1887, p. S'^l. 

 **Labarte, "Inventaire de Charles V," Paris, 1879, p. 281. 

 §Prost, "Inventaires mobiliers des dues de Bourgogne," Paris, 190'2-3, \o\. I. 



