Studia Waweliana (6/7.1997-1998)

A GOTHIC IVORY CASKET IN THE CATHEDRAL TREASURY AT WAWEL

Summary

Since the late 1970s studies on mediaeval ivory carvings have
been intensified. Numerous of important papers have been written,
the most significant among them being those by D. Gaborit-Chopin
and R. Randall. However, monographs are still scarce. This is
caused above all by the stylistic conservatism and persistence of
formal conventions in the circle of Paris ivory carvers, which
naturally impedes comparative analysis, grouping of particular
objects, and dating. Nevertheless, the task appears to be easier
and more rewarding when we deal with problems of secular
iconography. It was in this domain that the milieu of Paris ivory
carvers of the first half of the 14th century, so conservative in
respect of style, turned out to be exceptionally innovative and
creative. This is fully confirmed by the Wawel ivory casket, which
can safely be regarded as a representative product of that milieu.
It is on ivory caskets that some subjects appear for the first time
- here we mean the Galahad, Gawain, and Enyas episodes derived
from the Arthurian legend. Other themes, connected with Lancelot,
Tristan and Iseult, Pyramus and Thisbe, Aristotle and Phyllis,
and the Dame with the Unicorn, are rendered in new schemes of
composition. The case of the Wawel casket proves that a logical,
carefully considered iconographic programme was created. After
the identification of the scenę on the lock of the casket, which
similarly as the representation decorating its lid refers to a
mediaeval entertainment called the Siege of the Castle of Love,
the programme becomes fully legible - by interspersing the motives
from knightly legends with those from court life (a tournament
and entertainments depicted on the lid) it gives expression to the
ideał of courtly love. This is the earliest so rich and complex
manifestation of court culture - rooted in romance literaturę - to
be encountered in the visual arts. Around the mid-14th century
such thematic cycles appeared in monumental painting. Caskets
similar to the present one may have been a source of inspiration
for the choice of scenes. The casket was made in the circle of the
atelier of the „diptych with arcaded friezes" in the Louvre, active
in Paris in the second ąuarter of the 14th century. The main
argument for this attribution is the characteristic physiognomical
type. The circle of this workshop embraces, for instance, the
Adoration of the Magi and the Crucifixion diptych in the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London, a diptych with scenes of the
Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion, and the Coronation of Mary,
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, a diptych with
scenes of the Crucifbcion and the Coronation of Mary in the same
museum, and the head of a crosier in the Musee de Cluny, Paris.

When counted together with the Wawel item there survive
seven composite coffrets: at the Walters Art Gallery in Bal-
timore, the British Museum in London, the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in
Birmingham, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,
the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, and the Cathedral
Treasury in Cracow. All of them are rectangular boxes of like
dimensions. The relief decoration of their sides and lids is
stylistically very similar. This is conspicuous above all in the
arrangement and kind of drapery folds. It does not mean,
however, that the caskets were made in the same workshop
and at the same time. Each of them has slightly different
details, such as, for instance, physiognomies or proportions of
the figures. They also vary in the level of workmanship.

Among the seven caskets two - the one kept in Florence
(Bargello) and the Wawel piece - demonstrate particularly close
affinities both in terms of style and iconography. Nevertheless,
also here numerous differences can be discerned, especially in the
composition of the scenes. Similar observations can be made when
analysing the remaining caskets. In each case the division of the

sides and distribution of scenes are identical, iconographic
differences concerning only two scenes. The impression of
resemblance is deepened by the horror uacui so characteristic of
these reliefs. However, in each item the same scenes are composed
in a slightly different manner; likewise varied are the poses and
gestures of the figures, their number as well as details of costume
and landscape. The difference is particularly remarkable on the
lids of the caskets. In each case two central scenes depict a
tournament, whereas the scenę of attacking the Castle of Love
varies in composition, appearing either on the right or on the left
side of the lid and occasionally (as in the Wawel specimen) being
accompanied with scenes galantes.

Owing to the iconographic choice of scenes, the discussed
caskets may be divided into three groups. The first comprises
three items in the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum,
and Walters Art Gallery. Within the scheme of a composite coffret
we find some elements specific to this group alone. On the front
panels two scenes on the right depict the so-called Fountain of
Youth and some people approaching it (the respective panel on
the Wawel casket features the story of Pyramus and Thisbe). In
this group the right side panel shows a single scenę referring to
Sir Galahad (on the here-discussed object it is accompanied with
another, relative to Sir Enyas). On the lids, among the figures
defending the castle of love is the winged God of Love. The second
group consists of two caskets - at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art and at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. In each there appear
elements of the first and the third group, hence this one may be
defmed as a transition group. The front panel of the Birmingham
casket features scenes with Pyramus and Thisbe, while its right
side is decorated with only one episode, relating to Sir Enyas.
The front panel of the casket housed at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art depicts the Fountain of Youth, while on its right side
(similarly as on the Wawel item) there are two scenes - one
pertaining to Galahad and the other to Enyas. Also the lid of
this casket displays the same kind of composition as does the
third group. The third group comprises the remaining two caskets
- the Wawel object and the Florentine item in the Bargello
collection. Both, unlike those in the first group, have scenes with
Pyramus and Thisbe on the front panel and two scenes on the
right side (with the knights Enyas and Galahad).

Naturally, the above-proposed division is schematic (the extant
caskets form a smali proportion of what in all probability was
ample production), its main purpose being the presentation of
some varieties of the iconographic canon within the composite
coffret type. However, it seems to coincide with a few stylistic
indications. Only the third group displays a more fluent, tubular
arrangement of drapery folds and also the physiognomical type
characteristic of the workshop of the „diptych with arcaded
friezes", active between 1330 and 1350. For the same reasons
the Birmingham casket is akin to that group. The first group in
turn as well as the casket kept in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art are stylistically closer to relief mirror frames from the first
ąuarter of the 14th century, which - along with certain details
of costume and armour - permits the placing of this group in
the years 1320-1330. Thus the grouping of the preserved caskets
in three sets illustrates chronological changes in the iconographic
and - to a lesser extent - the stylistic scheme.

In view of the very few extant composite coffrets, it only
remains for us to share the satisfaction of J. Boloz Antoniewicz,
the first researcher of the Wawel casket, with the fact that
„The treasury of our cathedral [...] has been by the Revd.
Canon Ignacy Polkowski's most fortunate discovery on 8th
March 1881 so remarkably enriched".

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