{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O106324"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O106324/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2012FV7496/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2012FV7496/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2012FV7496","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FV7499","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF0033","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O106324/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O106324","accessionNumber":"231-1867","objectType":"Comb","titles":[{"title":"The Fountain of Youth and a Hunting Scene","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is an ivory comb made in the Upper Rhine or the Burgundy, in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, depicting the Fountain of Youth and a Hunting Scene. \nDuring the 14th century specialist ivory craftsmen carved both secular and religious objects in great numbers. Although Paris was the main centre of production, 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.\n\nThe comb has since the Antiquity been a fundamental tool for personal grooming, used both by men and women. In the Gothic period ivory was often employed for the production of deluxe decorated combs. The Gothic comb is always carved on both faces and consists of two registers of teeth, one fine the other broader, above and below the narrative strips.\r\nIvory 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 Gothic period. Considering the original ubiquity of such combs and in comparison with ivory mirror cases, a surprisingly small number survive from the fourteenth century.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Ivory comb, decorated on one side with the Fountain of Youth. \nOn the left an old woman, leaning on a walking-stick, is directed towards the fountain by an old man with a beard. Between him and the fountain sits a fool wearing a cap with ass's ears and playing the bagpipes, emphasising the folly of the quest for eternal beauty. Inside the fountain are two small naked figures upon whose heads the streams of water pour from above. On the right are the old couple made young again, the lady with an abundant head of hair and the man offering her a large flower, its stiff stem alluding to his renewed virility. On the other face is a hunting scene: on the right a hunter with a soft cap holds a spear in one hand and a horn in the other, watching two large dogs chasing a stag (and a rabbit below) through the woods. On both faces the sides of the comb are decorated with clusters of grapes and vine leaves.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"elephant ivory","id":"x35861"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved elephant ivory, painted and gilded ","categories":[{"text":"Personal accessories","id":"THES48912"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2012FV7496","2012FV7499","2006AF0033"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"111","id":"THES49918"},"free":"","case":"DU1","shelf":"DR8","box":"1"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Comb","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Upper Rhine","id":"x37802"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably Burgundy"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"second quarter fifteenth century","earliest":"1425-01-01","latest":"1450-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"14.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"In the possession of John Webb, London, by 1862 (London 1862, cat. no. 147); purchased from Webb in 1867, for £48.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Comb, ivory, depicting the Fountain of Youth and a Hunting Scene, Upper Rhine or probably Burgundy, second quarter of the fifteenth century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Longhurst, Margaret H. <font -u>Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory.</font> London: Published under the Authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929, Part II, p. 72"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1867. <font -u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1.</font> London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 6"},{"reference":{"text":"Maskell, W., <u>A Description of the Ivories Ancient and Medieval in the South Kensington Museum</u>, London, 1872","id":"AUTH330219"},"details":"p. 88","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Maskell, A., <u>Ivories</u>, London, 1905","id":"AUTH332726"},"details":"pl. L, I","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Winter, F. <u>Die Kämme alter Zeiten von der Steinzeit bis zur Gegenwart (The Rake’s Progress)</u>, Leipzig, 1906","id":"AUTH335720"},"details":"pls 39, 40, nos 113, 115","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Koechlin, R., <u>Les Ivoires gothiques français</u>, 3 vols, Paris, 1924 (reprinted Paris 1968)","id":"AUTH332728"},"details":"I, pp. 428, 507, 525-526, II, cat. no. 1151, III, pl. CXCIII","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550</u>, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014","id":"AUTH332632"},"details":"part II, pp. 622-623","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Williamson, Paul and Davies, Glyn, <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1200-1550</u>, (in 2 parts), V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014, part II, pp. 622-623, cat. no. 215"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"fountains","id":"AAT6179"},{"text":"dogs (animals)","id":"x34865"},{"text":"deer","id":"x29392"},{"text":"stags","id":"x30301"},{"text":"grapes","id":"x30300"},{"text":"vines","id":"AAT132406"},{"text":"old man","id":"x42954"},{"text":"old woman","id":"x47765"},{"text":"young man","id":"x42677"},{"text":"woman","id":"x35642"},{"text":"fool","id":"AAT11112"},{"text":"water","id":"AAT11772"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["231-1867"],"accessionNumberNum":"231","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1867,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LT8402"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-15","recordCreationDate":"2004-10-14","availableToBook":false}}