DOI Artikel:
Musialik, Elżbieta: A 14th-century ivory casket with scenes from medieval romances: the newest addition to the so-called coffrets composites group
Zitierlink:https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/fha2022/0010
Folia Historiae Artium
Seria Nowa, t. 20: 2022/PL ISSN 0071-6723
ELŻBIETA MUSIALIK
Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie / Uniwersytet Jagielloński
A 14TH-CENTURY IVORY CASKET WITH SCENES
FROM MEDIEVAL ROMANCES
THE NEWEST ADDITION TO THE SO-CALLED
COFFRETS COMPOSITES GROUP
Since the launch of the Gothic Ivories Project online da-
tabase in 2008, medieval ivories have gradually become
a more prominent subject of academic studies.1 Even
though the database includes approximately 5,000 items,
there are still some objects unrecognised by or even un-
known to scholars. A small ivory casket is the most re-
cent, extraordinary discovery [Fig. 1]. It was sold by the
Scottish auction house Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh
to a private collector on 20 May 2021 for almost £1.4 mil-
lion.2 The uniqueness of this piece is related not only to
its iconography, which will be discussed below, but also
to its provenance. According to the auction house, this
casket has, since at least the beginning of the 17th cen-
tury, been in the hands of one noble Scottish family, the
Bairds of Auchmedden and later their descendants, and
kept continuously at Tornaveen House, the family’s resi-
dence in Aberdeenshire.3 According to information pro-
vided by the sellers, it is known that the casket was, since
1 The Gothic Ivories Project, initiated by Courtauld Institute of Art
in London, is dedicated to medieval and neo-Gothic ivories pre-
served in public and private collections, as well as those whose
location is currently unknown, see: Gothic Ivories Project, http://
www.gothicivories.courtauld.ac.uk/ (last modified 1 April 2022).
2 Lyon & Turnbull, https://www.lyonandturnbull.com/news/
article/a-rare--important-french-gothic-casket/ (last modified
1.04.2022). I am particularly grateful to Mrs Kristin Schaeffer, ad-
ministrator in the Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts Depart-
ment at Lyon and Turnbull, for providing me with the additional
information on the casket.
3 On the Baird family, see: J.M. Bulloch, On the Bairds of
Auchmedden and Strichen, Peterhead, 1934.
its acquisition, an esteemed object venerated as a family
heirloom.4
Information on the casket is very scanty. According to
family tradition, the ‘Baird casket’5 was supposed to have
been crafted by Thomas Baird, a minim friar at a monas-
tery in Besançon, Burgundy, before 1615.6 In one of the let-
4 This is a very unusual case for secular ivories. Another example of
a casket whose presence can be traced with confidence to before
the 18th century (when the ivories appeared on the antiquity mar-
kets) is the piece in the Cracow cathedral treasury, which since the
late 19th century has been legendarily attributed to the Polish queen
Hedwig d’Anjou (b. 1373/74, d. 1399). The casket in Cracow was ‘dis-
covered’ in 1881 by canon Ignacy Polkowski, during a visitation of
[?] the Cracow cathedral conducted by bishop Albin Dunajewski.
The cabinet in which the casket was found was most likely sealed
at the beginning of the 17th century. The attribution to the queen is
rather doubtful, and it fits into the i9th-century custom of‘national-
ising’ medieval works of art. The casket appeared for the first time
in the cathedral’s 1563 inventory as one of the reliquaries contain-
ing relics of various saints: Item theca seu scriniolum ex asse albo
alias ex ebore, levibus laminis argeteis deauratis com smalcz circum-
quaque obductis compactum, cum clausura et manubrio, similibus
decorate, ab angulis vero octo laminae parvae constringentes ipsum
ebur seu ossa thecae ipsius, in qua servantur diversae sanctorum rel-
iquiae, see: Inwentarz Katedry Wawelskiej z roku 1563, ed. A. Boch-
nak, Kraków, 1979 [=Państwowe Zbiory Sztuki na Wawelu: Źródła
do dziejów Wawelu, 10, ed. A. Franaszek], pp. 10-11.
5 Since the casket belonged to the Baird family, I’ve decided to use
the name ‘Baird casket’ to distinguish this piece from the other
coffrets and to highlight its provenance. The current owner of the
casket remains anonymous.
6 Genealogical Collections Concerning the Sir-name of Baird, and
the Families of Auchmedden, Newbyth, and Sauchton Hall in
Publikacja jest udostępniona na licencji Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL).
Seria Nowa, t. 20: 2022/PL ISSN 0071-6723
ELŻBIETA MUSIALIK
Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie / Uniwersytet Jagielloński
A 14TH-CENTURY IVORY CASKET WITH SCENES
FROM MEDIEVAL ROMANCES
THE NEWEST ADDITION TO THE SO-CALLED
COFFRETS COMPOSITES GROUP
Since the launch of the Gothic Ivories Project online da-
tabase in 2008, medieval ivories have gradually become
a more prominent subject of academic studies.1 Even
though the database includes approximately 5,000 items,
there are still some objects unrecognised by or even un-
known to scholars. A small ivory casket is the most re-
cent, extraordinary discovery [Fig. 1]. It was sold by the
Scottish auction house Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh
to a private collector on 20 May 2021 for almost £1.4 mil-
lion.2 The uniqueness of this piece is related not only to
its iconography, which will be discussed below, but also
to its provenance. According to the auction house, this
casket has, since at least the beginning of the 17th cen-
tury, been in the hands of one noble Scottish family, the
Bairds of Auchmedden and later their descendants, and
kept continuously at Tornaveen House, the family’s resi-
dence in Aberdeenshire.3 According to information pro-
vided by the sellers, it is known that the casket was, since
1 The Gothic Ivories Project, initiated by Courtauld Institute of Art
in London, is dedicated to medieval and neo-Gothic ivories pre-
served in public and private collections, as well as those whose
location is currently unknown, see: Gothic Ivories Project, http://
www.gothicivories.courtauld.ac.uk/ (last modified 1 April 2022).
2 Lyon & Turnbull, https://www.lyonandturnbull.com/news/
article/a-rare--important-french-gothic-casket/ (last modified
1.04.2022). I am particularly grateful to Mrs Kristin Schaeffer, ad-
ministrator in the Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts Depart-
ment at Lyon and Turnbull, for providing me with the additional
information on the casket.
3 On the Baird family, see: J.M. Bulloch, On the Bairds of
Auchmedden and Strichen, Peterhead, 1934.
its acquisition, an esteemed object venerated as a family
heirloom.4
Information on the casket is very scanty. According to
family tradition, the ‘Baird casket’5 was supposed to have
been crafted by Thomas Baird, a minim friar at a monas-
tery in Besançon, Burgundy, before 1615.6 In one of the let-
4 This is a very unusual case for secular ivories. Another example of
a casket whose presence can be traced with confidence to before
the 18th century (when the ivories appeared on the antiquity mar-
kets) is the piece in the Cracow cathedral treasury, which since the
late 19th century has been legendarily attributed to the Polish queen
Hedwig d’Anjou (b. 1373/74, d. 1399). The casket in Cracow was ‘dis-
covered’ in 1881 by canon Ignacy Polkowski, during a visitation of
[?] the Cracow cathedral conducted by bishop Albin Dunajewski.
The cabinet in which the casket was found was most likely sealed
at the beginning of the 17th century. The attribution to the queen is
rather doubtful, and it fits into the i9th-century custom of‘national-
ising’ medieval works of art. The casket appeared for the first time
in the cathedral’s 1563 inventory as one of the reliquaries contain-
ing relics of various saints: Item theca seu scriniolum ex asse albo
alias ex ebore, levibus laminis argeteis deauratis com smalcz circum-
quaque obductis compactum, cum clausura et manubrio, similibus
decorate, ab angulis vero octo laminae parvae constringentes ipsum
ebur seu ossa thecae ipsius, in qua servantur diversae sanctorum rel-
iquiae, see: Inwentarz Katedry Wawelskiej z roku 1563, ed. A. Boch-
nak, Kraków, 1979 [=Państwowe Zbiory Sztuki na Wawelu: Źródła
do dziejów Wawelu, 10, ed. A. Franaszek], pp. 10-11.
5 Since the casket belonged to the Baird family, I’ve decided to use
the name ‘Baird casket’ to distinguish this piece from the other
coffrets and to highlight its provenance. The current owner of the
casket remains anonymous.
6 Genealogical Collections Concerning the Sir-name of Baird, and
the Families of Auchmedden, Newbyth, and Sauchton Hall in
Publikacja jest udostępniona na licencji Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL).