This exquisite carving, probably originally from a portable altar, is one of the most intimate and sensitive carvings of the Romanesque style in Europe. Here Joseph tenderly embraces Mary and the infant Jesus who are enthroned upon an ass. Rich in symbolism, this ivory has been linked artistically to both England and northern France.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Relief of the Holy Family
Date:ca. 1160–80
Culture:British or North French
Medium:Elephant ivory
Dimensions:Overall: 3 3/16 x 1 1/2 x 1/2 in. (8.1 x 3.8 x 1.3 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Dodge Fund, 1940
Accession Number:40.62
Emile Théodore, Lille (by 1911); Louis Carré(until 1940)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 12–May 10, 1970.
Victoria and Albert Museum. "Ivory carvings in early medieval England, 700-1200," May 8–July 7, 1974.
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," June–December 1989.
State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," February–July 1990.
Braunschweig, Germany. Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum. "Heinrich der Löwe und seine Zeit : Herrschaft und Repräsentation der Welfen 1125–1235," August 6, 1995–November 12, 1995.
Soil de Moriamé, Eugène. Exposition des anciennes industries d'art tournaisiennes. Tournai: Casterman, 1911. no. 1, p. 29.
Goldschmidt, Adolph. Die Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der romanischen Zeit, XI.-XIII. Jahrhundert. Vol. 4. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1926. no. 19, p. 17, pl. VI.
Swarzenski, Hanns. "Two Unknown French Romanesque Frescoes." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 48, no. 272 (June 1950). pp. 25–26.
Swarzenski, Hanns. Monuments of Romanesque Art: the Art of Church Treasures in North-Western Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954. p. 63, fig. 314, pl. 139.
Beckwith, John. "An Ivory Relief of the Ascension." Burlington Magazine 98, no. 637 (April 1956). pp. 119, 120, fig. 21.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 31.
Griffith, Beatrice Fox. Treasure Under Glass. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1963. p. 38, pl. XXXIII, accession number incorrectly identified in caption as 40.62.
Kryzhanovskaya, Marta. "Angliyskaya Reznaya Kost' Romanskogo Perioda (X–XII vv.)." Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ėrmitazha 8 (1964). p. 23.
Swarzenski, Hanns. Monuments of Romanesque Art: the Art of Church Treasures in North-Western Europe. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967. p. 63, fig. 314, pl. 139.
Hoffmann, Konrad, ed. The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970. no. 62, p. 57.
Sauerländer, Willibald. "Review of 'The Year 1200,' a Centennial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. February 12-May 10, 1970." The Art Bulletin 53, no. 4 (December 1971). p. 512.
Beckwith, John. Ivory Carvings in Early Medieval England. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 1972. no. 100, p. 140, fig. 184.
Schwartz, Sheila. "Symbolic allusions in a twelth-century ivory." Marsyas 16 (1972/73). pp. 25–26, fig. 1.
Beckwith, John, ed. Ivory Carvings in Early Medieval England, 700-1200. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1974. no. 57, p. 89.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires du Moyen Age. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1978. no. 191, pp. 132, 203–204.
Little, Charles T. "Ivoires et art gothique." Revue de l'art 46 (1979). pp. 58–59, fig. 1.
Verdier, Philippe. Le Couronnement de la Vierge: Les Origines et les Premiers Développements d'un Thème Iconographique. Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, 1980. p. 43, pl. 86.
Zarnecki, George, Janet Holt, and Tristram Holland, ed. English Romanesque Art, 1066-1200. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984. no. 214, p. 228.
McLachlan, Elizabeth Parker, Malcolm Thurlby, and Charles T. Little. "Romanesque Reassembled in England: A Review." Gesta 24, no. 1 (1985). p. 85, fig. 6.
Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. Gothic Art. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1989. pp. 485, 501, fig. 630.
Pushkin Museum and State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki: Kratkii Katalog Vystavki. Moscow: Pushkin Museum, 1990. no. 14, pp. 8, 10.
State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage Museum, 1990. no. 14, pp. 8, 36–37.
Mellinkoff, Ruth. Outcasts: Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages. Vol. 2. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. fig. III.85.
Mellinkoff, Ruth. Outcasts: Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages. Vol. 1. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. p. 80.
Luckhardt, Jochen, and Franz Niehoff, ed. Heinrich der Löwe und seine Zeit: Herrschaft und Repräsentation der Welfen 1125-1235; Katalog der Ausstellung Braunschweig. Vol. 1. Munich: Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, 1995. no. D107, pp. 310–11, 325–26.
Williamson, Paul. Medieval Ivory Carvings: Early Christian to Romanesque. London: V & A Publications, 2010. pp. 327, 331.
Hourihane, Colum P., ed. The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. Vol. 3. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 96.
Little, Charles T. "Joseph at Chartres: Sculpture Lost and Found." In Arts of the Medieval Cathedrals: Studies on Architecture, Stained Glass and Sculpture in Honor of Anne Prache, edited by Kathleen Nolan, and Dany Sandron. AVISTA Studies in the History of Medieval Technology, Science and Art, Vol. 9. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2015. p. 193, fig. 11.9.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world, encompassing the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the Renaissance.