Comb

This large, religiously themed comb is composed of a single panel of ivory. On one side, the comb features robust, widely spaced teeth for combing knots of the hair. On the other, a finely cut and densely packed set of teeth could be used to smooth and draw sebum down the hair, lending it a glossy texture. The comb is in excellent condition, missing only a few fragments of teeth. The comb-maker has carved a series of reliefs representing the life of Saint John the Baptist into the central bar of the comb. The first scene represents the birth of the saint. Elizabeth, Saint John’s mother, lays in bed immediately after giving birth. A crowd has gathered to visit the new mother and son, and a woman washes Elizabeth’s forehead. A wetnurse holds John the Baptist while his father, Zacharia, reaches out to him. In the next scene, the adult Saint John the Baptist, recognizable from his rough camel shirt, preaches to a crowd of fashionably dressed people from an outdoor podium formed from a stick crossing a pair of tree branches. In the following scene, the saint baptizes Jesus. An angel hold’s Jesus’s clothes while a dove representing the Holy Spirit swoops down from above. The central bar on the reverse shows the death of Saint John the Baptist. In the first scene, Salome, the young standing woman in front of the table, asks her stepfather, Herod Antipas, for the head of Saint John the Baptist. The second scene shows the saint’s beheading, while the third shows the delivery to Herod and his wife on a silver platter. The four thick edges of the comb are carved on both sides with standing figures that likely represent prophets and biblical kings.

The style of carving on the present comb is related to a group of ivory carvings localized to the north of France and Flanders in the late fifteenth century. Typical of this group is the low relief carving against a cross-hatched background. This diverse assemblage of objects includes religious diptychs, paxes, boxes, mirror cases, and combs. Among this group are numerous double-sided combs with carvings on the central bars and edges. The imagery embraces a wide range of genre scenes of courting couples (Victoria &Albert Museum inv. no. 230-1867; Kunstgewerbemuseum inv. no. Inv. F 1561), classical mythology (Victoria &Albert Museum inv. no. 2143-1855), and narratives from Jewish history (Limerick, The Hunt Museum inv. no. HCM 150; Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello inv. No. 12 A; Victoria &Albert Museum inv. no. 468-1869) and the Christian Bible. While their imagery can be diverse, they often possess erotic overtones and tend to emphasize the power of women, a popular theme in the Middle Ages that gave a nod to the role of combs in feminine beautification. The present scene depicts the death of Saint John the Baptist at the hands of Salome. This story of deadly seduction fits in well with the genre and perhaps enjoins the comb’s wielder to be fully conscious of the power that beauty can wield.

Further Reading:

Richard D. Randall, Jr. Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1985), pp. 40-241.

Susan L. Smith, The Power of Women: A "Topos" in Medieval Art and Literature (Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995).

Paul Williamson and Glyn Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, Part II (London: V&A Publishing, 2014), pp. 609-631.


Catalogue Entry by Scott Miller, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial and Research Collections Specialist, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2020–2022

Georges Hoentschel (French)(sold 1911); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1911–1913); Estate of J. Pierpont Morgan, New York (1913–1917)

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University. "The Carver's Art: Medieval Sculpture in Ivory, Bone, and Horn," September 9-November 21, 1989.

New York. Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture. "Salvaging the Past: Georges Hoentschel and French Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 3, 2013–August 11, 2013.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Metropolitan Vanities: The History of the Dressing Table," December 17, 2013–April 13, 2014.

Pératé, André. Collections Georges Hoentschel: Ivoires, orfèvrerie religieuse, pierres. Vol. 2. Paris: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1911. no. 46, fig. XXXIX.

Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume I, Text. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 1160, p. 429.

Koechlin, Raymond. Les Ivoires Gothiques Français: Volume II, Catalogue. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1924. no. 1160, p. 415.

St. Clair, Archer, and Elizabeth Parker McLachlan, ed. The Carver's Art: Medieval Sculpture in Ivory, Bone, and Horn. New Brunswick, N.J.: Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, 1989. no. 69, pp. 108–110.

Krohn, Deborah L., Ulrich Leben, and Daniëlle O. Kisluk-Grosheide, ed. Salvaging the Past: Georges Hoentschel and French Decorative Arts from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, 2013. no. 133, p. 169.