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/fha2022/0011
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1. Casket with scenes from the story of the Holy Grail, Tristan and Iseult (?) and the wild men, Paris (?), 1st quarter of the 14th c. (?), later
mounts. Private collection. Phot. Lyon & Turnbull Edinburgh
ters written by Thomas’s uncle Andrew to Thomas’s father
Gilbert III, Andrew states that Thomas Baird was incapable
of any of the sciences but he was supposed to be skilled in
craft and mechanics. According to William Baird, the last
of the Bairds of Auchmedden (b. ca. 1701, d. 1777), Thomas
Baird was responsible for making an oblong, small chest of
ivory 10 inches long, 5 broad, and 4 high, delicately carved
in bas-relief, with the chisel, upon the top and sides into fig-
ures of knights-errant, distrest [sic] damsels, and enchant-
ed castles, taken from some of the old romances which
were so much in vogue in that age’.* * * * * 7 The story that the cas-
Particular: with Copies of Old Letters and Papers Worth Preser-
ving, and Accounts of Several Transactions in this Country During
the Last Two Centuries. Reprinted from the Original MS. Of Wil-
liam Baird, Esq. (last of the family), of Auchmedden, ed. W.N.E
Fraser, London, 1870, p. 21, see also: Lyon & Turnbull (as in note 2).
7 Genealogical Collections Concerning the Sir-name of Baird, p. 21
(as in note 6). In the 1870 s the casket was in possession of W.N.E
Fraser.
ket had been created by Thomas Baird was likely fabricated
by Thomas himself or invented later by his family. In the
given circumstances, we could even assume that Thomas
purchased the casket or was gifted it during his time as
a friar and later sent it to his family as a souvenir. There is
also the possibility that Thomas worked on the casket in
some way; maybe he was tasked with repairing it. In any
case Thomas Baird could not have made the coffret, as its
style, which will be discussed further, indicates that it was
produced in the first half of the 14th century, long before he
was born.
The ‘Baird casket’ is made of six ivory plaques that were
attached to the wooden base by small nails. The casket’s
brass handle and mounts are probably a later addition. The
original handles and mounts that survive in the case of the
so-called ‘Hedwig casket’ in Cracow and the casket at the
Musée de Cluny in Paris8 are made of enamelled silver and
8 Cracow cathedral treasury, inv. no. WKW/eIII/05; Paris, Musée
de Cluny, inv. no. Cl. 23840.
1. Casket with scenes from the story of the Holy Grail, Tristan and Iseult (?) and the wild men, Paris (?), 1st quarter of the 14th c. (?), later
mounts. Private collection. Phot. Lyon & Turnbull Edinburgh
ters written by Thomas’s uncle Andrew to Thomas’s father
Gilbert III, Andrew states that Thomas Baird was incapable
of any of the sciences but he was supposed to be skilled in
craft and mechanics. According to William Baird, the last
of the Bairds of Auchmedden (b. ca. 1701, d. 1777), Thomas
Baird was responsible for making an oblong, small chest of
ivory 10 inches long, 5 broad, and 4 high, delicately carved
in bas-relief, with the chisel, upon the top and sides into fig-
ures of knights-errant, distrest [sic] damsels, and enchant-
ed castles, taken from some of the old romances which
were so much in vogue in that age’.* * * * * 7 The story that the cas-
Particular: with Copies of Old Letters and Papers Worth Preser-
ving, and Accounts of Several Transactions in this Country During
the Last Two Centuries. Reprinted from the Original MS. Of Wil-
liam Baird, Esq. (last of the family), of Auchmedden, ed. W.N.E
Fraser, London, 1870, p. 21, see also: Lyon & Turnbull (as in note 2).
7 Genealogical Collections Concerning the Sir-name of Baird, p. 21
(as in note 6). In the 1870 s the casket was in possession of W.N.E
Fraser.
ket had been created by Thomas Baird was likely fabricated
by Thomas himself or invented later by his family. In the
given circumstances, we could even assume that Thomas
purchased the casket or was gifted it during his time as
a friar and later sent it to his family as a souvenir. There is
also the possibility that Thomas worked on the casket in
some way; maybe he was tasked with repairing it. In any
case Thomas Baird could not have made the coffret, as its
style, which will be discussed further, indicates that it was
produced in the first half of the 14th century, long before he
was born.
The ‘Baird casket’ is made of six ivory plaques that were
attached to the wooden base by small nails. The casket’s
brass handle and mounts are probably a later addition. The
original handles and mounts that survive in the case of the
so-called ‘Hedwig casket’ in Cracow and the casket at the
Musée de Cluny in Paris8 are made of enamelled silver and
8 Cracow cathedral treasury, inv. no. WKW/eIII/05; Paris, Musée
de Cluny, inv. no. Cl. 23840.