Pastoral staff and case, ivory, with the Adoration of the Magi, the 'Aldobrandini Crozier', Italy (Venice), ca. 1370

The volute, which issues from the mouth of a dragon, is surmounted by half-length figures of Christ between David (?) and Salomon. It encloses an openwork representation of the Adoration of the Magi with the star and firmament above and is decorated with an inscription, a portion of the Collect for the Epiphany. The knop, made up of four plaques, is carved on each face with a writing Evangelist seated beneath a trefoil arch. Four foliate shoots and additional prophets are now missing around the lower part of the volute: three ivory pegs remain.

The stem, divided into four sections that screw together, is painted with dragons, birds, and faded leafy stems, and with designs including crosses, quatrefoils and foliate designs: these are all of gold with red and black outlines. From the top these four sections consist of three, four, three and two cylinders respectively, the last section terminating in a turned ivory foot with a brass tip (both later).

The cuir bouilli case is decorated with various animals amid leafy scrolls and with the arms of the Aldobrandini family. The interior is divided into five compartments, a central one for the head of the crozier and four circular ones for the sections of the staff. The central parts of each side consist of foliate shoots in which are three creatures: on one side mythical beasts (a unicorn and two dragons) and on the other a deer, a hare and a wild boar. Above these on both sides are the arms of the Aldobrandini, here uncoloured but clearly identifiable: a bend counter-embattled between six mullets ranged in orle. The cover of the case continues the leaf designs of the lower part, but on the side with the animals has a panel with an eagle, its head turned back. The top surface has a third Aldobrandini coat-of-arms with, above it, a mitre with lappets and a foliate crozier, indicating that the owner was an Aldobrandini bishop.

George Salting Bequest

The heads of Christ and Solomon and the two foliate shoots are either late-nineteenth-century replacements or were broken before 1880 and subsequently restored.
Four foliate shoots and additional prophets are missing around the lower part of the volute, and three ivory pegs remain.

Formerly in the Museo Civico, Volterra; sold with other ivory carvings from the Museo, 2 December 1880, in Florence. Then Frederic Spitzer collection, Paris, by 1890. Sold at Spitzer sale, Paris, (25 April 1893, lot 125). Then George Salting collection. Bequeathed to the V&A by Salting, 1910.

Historical significance: The coat of arms on the case identifies the crosier as having belonged to Giovanni Benci Carrucci Aldobrandini, bishop of Gubbio (Umbria, central Italy) between 1370 and 1375. Venetian elements such as the half-length figures of Christ and prophets in foliate shoots also feature in other crosiers, such as those in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore and in a private collection, New York. The figure style and painting of these crosiers is close to that of the Venetian triptych with the Coronation of the Virgin, datable to 1360-70 (V&A, 143-1866).

As indicated by the coat of arms on the case, this finely carved crosier once belonged to Giovanni Benci Carrucci Aldobrandini, bishop of Gubbio (Umbria, central Italy) between 1370 and 1375. The volute is decorated with an openwork representation of the Adoration of the Magi, and inscribed on both sides with a portion of the Collect for the Epiphany. The half-length figures of Christ and prophets in foliate shoots are also found in other Venetian crosiers dating from the same period.

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.

A.547&A-1910