This comb is made by an unknown artist. It is decorated on each side with a female head on one side, and a male head wearing a helmet and armour on the other, each flanked by two seated nude figures back to back, with pierced scrollwork and foliate decoration at the corners. The ends of the comb are adorned with bearded masks. The style and subject suggest the comb is French and dates from the mid-sixteenth century. Ivory combs, together with mirror cases and gravoirs for parting the hair, formed an essential part of the trousse de toilette or étui (dressing case) of the typical wealthy lady or gentleman in the period. The two leading cities for ivory carving were Paris and Dieppe. Luxury items, such as combs were often made in Paris, especially during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. During the seventeenth century Dieppe became increasingly significant for small-scale sculpture in ivory, perhaps because it was a port.