Ivories Ancient and Mediæval

A richly illustrated survey, this volume opens a door onto centuries of ivory artistry, pairing detailed woodcuts with full‑page plates that showcase everything from delicate pastoral staffs to ornate reliquary triptychs. The author sets the material’s natural qualities straight—its distinctive dentine striations—and then traces how craftsmen across Europe and beyond turned tusk, walrus tooth, and even fossilized ivory into objects of both daily use and devotional splendor.

Beyond the visual feast, the text weaves in historical anecdotes: a Norse explorer’s 9th‑century report to King Alfred, medieval tales of walrus‑tooth chessmen, and the spread of ivory work through Carlovingian, Byzantine and Hispano‑Moresque workshops. By comparing elephant, walrus, narwhal and fossil sources, the book reveals how availability shaped style, technique, and the symbolic weight each piece carried in its time.