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Pastoral Staff

ca. 1330-1350 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is an ivory crozier head made in France (Lorraine), in about 1330-1350.

The name crozier is commonly used for the crook-shaped pastoral staff of a bishop or abbot. It forms part of their insignia.
It was carried as a symbol of authority and pastoral care. It was made of various materials, but by the twelfth century ivory was in widespread use for the head of the crozier. The shaft was often made of wood, occasionally embellished with metal knops, although on Italian Gothic examples, ivory and bone cylinders were used in construction. French Gothic ivory crozier heads are predominantly of one design, with the Crucifixion and the Virgin and St John on one side and the Virgin and Child, flanked by candle-bearing angels, on the other. It appears that the principal face was that to be seen when the volute of the crozier was facing to the right.

Ivory was used all over Europe for religious works of art. It was often combined with precious metals and usually took the form of relief panels, for book covers, portable altars and caskets. An almost unbroken tradition of ivory carving extends from the Roman and Byzantine empires until the end of the 14th century. From about 1250, Paris became the centre of production for figures and reliefs intended for private devotion. Other workshops emerged in Italy and Germany. Some of the craftsmen may have been trained in Paris as their work often combines French and local styles.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Pastoral Staff Head
  • Base
  • Pastoral Staff
Materials and techniques
Elephant ivory
Brief description
Pastoral staff head, ivory, Virgin and Child and the Crucifixion, France (Lorraine), ca. 1330-1350
Physical description
The crozier head, of solid construction, is made up of a crocketed volute supported by two kneeling angels, one beside the other, in front of which kneels a praying abbot with crozier. The angels and abbot are placed on top of an integrally-carved base with a pierced arcade of twelve trefoil arches. The plain centre contained eight figures, now lost. The volute is carved on one side with the Crucifixion, and the Virgin and Child standing between St John the Baptist, holding the disc of the Lamb of God, and a bishop saint holding a book and crozier on the other.
Above are two angels playing musical instruments (flute and zither) and two others holding the sun and the moon. The circular staff is carved with spirally arranged stems bearing leaves and flowers. On a modern stand of gilt wood.
Dimensions
  • Height: 24.5cm
  • Width: 12.5cm
  • Width: 12.5cm
  • At base depth: 4.7cm
Object history
Said to have come from the abbey of Étival; in the collection of Prince Petr Soltykoff, Paris, by 1851; bought by Baron Achille Sellière at the Soltykoff sale, Paris, 1861. Sellière collection, Paris, until 1890; Martin Heckscher collection, Vienna; Heckscher sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 4-6 May 1898, lot 188, ill; then George Salting collection, London. Bequeathed to the V&A by Salting in 1910 (no. 2056).
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is an ivory crozier head made in France (Lorraine), in about 1330-1350.

The name crozier is commonly used for the crook-shaped pastoral staff of a bishop or abbot. It forms part of their insignia.
It was carried as a symbol of authority and pastoral care. It was made of various materials, but by the twelfth century ivory was in widespread use for the head of the crozier. The shaft was often made of wood, occasionally embellished with metal knops, although on Italian Gothic examples, ivory and bone cylinders were used in construction. French Gothic ivory crozier heads are predominantly of one design, with the Crucifixion and the Virgin and St John on one side and the Virgin and Child, flanked by candle-bearing angels, on the other. It appears that the principal face was that to be seen when the volute of the crozier was facing to the right.

Ivory was used all over Europe for religious works of art. It was often combined with precious metals and usually took the form of relief panels, for book covers, portable altars and caskets. An almost unbroken tradition of ivory carving extends from the Roman and Byzantine empires until the end of the 14th century. From about 1250, Paris became the centre of production for figures and reliefs intended for private devotion. Other workshops emerged in Italy and Germany. Some of the craftsmen may have been trained in Paris as their work often combines French and local styles.
Bibliographic references
  • 'Salting Bequest (A. 70 to A. 1029-1910) / Murray Bequest (A. 1030 to A. 1096-1910)'. In: List of Works of Art Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (Department of Architecture and Sculpture). London: Printed under the Authority of his Majesty's Stationery Office, by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Limited, East Harding Street, EC, pp. 92, 93
  • Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, p. 35
  • Maskell, A., Ivories, London, 1905 p. 205
  • Koechlin, R., Les Ivoires gothiques français, 3 vols, Paris, 1924 (reprinted Paris 1968) I, pp. 271, 272, 274; II, cat. no. 769; III, pl. CXXVII
  • Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014 part 1, pp. 426-429
  • Westwood, J O. A descriptive catalogue of the Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum. With an Account of the Continental Collections of Classical and Mediaeval Ivories. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1876 p. 414
  • Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014, part 1, pp. 426-429, cat. no. 150
Collection
Accession number
A.558-1910

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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