Double Comb with Scenes of Courtly Life

Description Ivory or a fine-grained wood were the materials preferred for combs, with ivory the most popular for luxury goods. Indeed this comb depicts typical pastimes of wealthy nobles. On one side, couples dance in a garden as a seated lady plays a portable organ. The other side depicts hunters, their hunting dogs, and a deer that has been trapped. The teeth are original wtih fine teeth on one side and coarser ones on the other. Traces of the original paint on the trees and costumes and the gilding on the hair of the figures are preserved.

Exhibitions

• Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984-1985.
• Medieval Games of Love and War. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995-1996.
• Images in Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1997.
• Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998-2001.
• Seeing Music in Medieval Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014.
• A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota. 2016-2017.

Provenance Richard Forrer, Strasbourg [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Leon Gruel, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1929, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1929