62 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



It bears a representation of scenes from the New Testament, 

 and also figures of St. Peter, St. Francis, St. Bernard, and 

 St. Domenic, and in composition and execution is certainly 

 a most impressive example of late Gothic art. The conjec- 

 ture has been made that we have here a work in ivory by 

 Benedetto da Majano (1442-1497), and there is a tradition 

 to the effect that this triptych once belonged to Matthias 

 Corvinus, king of Hungary, for whom Benedetto is known to 

 have worked in other materials than ivory.* 



A magnificent horn, or "oliphant," in the collection of 

 Baron Adolphe de Rothschild, is pronounced by M. Molinier 

 to be the most beautiful example of French ivory carving at 

 the height of its excellence. It is also noteworthy as having 

 brought not long ago what is believed to be the highest 

 price ever paid for a specimen of such work up to the time 

 it was disposed of, for it sold at the Fountain sale, in June, 

 1884, for £4,452, or about $22,260.t 



The well-known piece of ivory carving popularly, though 

 erroneously, called Le Couteau de Diane de Poitiers, one of 

 the gems of the Spitzer Collection, has often been ascribed 

 to Jean Goujon, but there is little reason to believe that it is 

 really his work, although the design may have been directly 

 inspired, or at least suggested, by some of his sculptures. J 

 In any case it is French work of the sixteenth century. 



A fine ivory sculpture in the Royal Museum in Florence, 

 representing the Descent from the Cross, is an excellent ex- 

 ample of sixteenth-century art. The treatment is at once 

 realistic, natural, and intensely dramatic, but those who are 

 charmed by the devotional purity of Gothic art will miss 



*Molinier, " Histoire generale des arts appliques k I'mdustrie," Vol. I, "Ivoires," Paris, 

 1896, p. 212, PI. xxi. 



tMolinier, "Histoire generale des arts appliques k I'industrie," Paris, 1896, Vol. I, 

 "Ivoires," p. 218; PI. xxiii. 



{Molinier, *' Histoire generale des arts appliques a I'industrie," Paris, 1896, Vol. I, 

 "Ivoires," p. 218. 



