{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O153456"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O153456/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011FC2498/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011FC2498/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011FC2498","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011FC2497","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC8135","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O153456/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O153456","accessionNumber":"2144-1855","objectType":"Comb","titles":[{"title":"Comb","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"The style and subjects suggest this comb was made in Northern France during the first half of the sixteenth century. It is ornamented with a refine pierced foliate Renaissance scrollwork, three open-work medallions, containing male and female busts, and bearded profile masks at each end. \n\r\nIvory combs, together with mirror cases and <i>gravoirs</i> for parting the hair, formed an essential part of the <i>trousse de toilette</i> or <i>étui</i> (dressing case) of the typical wealthy lady or gentleman in the period. Luxury items, such as combs were often made in Paris, especially during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. During the seventeenth century Dieppe (Normandie) became increasingly significant for small-scale sculpture in ivory, perhaps because it was a port, meaning that ivory could be easily shipped in.\n\r\nClosely comparable combs, probably made in the same workshop, show different combinations of similar open worked Renaissance motifs. One in the Musée du Louvre (OA 145; see Philippe Malgouyres, <u>Ivoires de la Renaissance et des temps modernes. La Collection du musée du Louvre</u>, Paris 2010, cat.127) shows two putti leaning on each other with medallions on each side and the same bearded masks on each end of the comb. Another one, in Dresde (Grüne Gewölbe, inv.VII.173), has a central medallion with putti leaning on it. The ornated corners of these three combs are all very similar. Other examples of comparable combs: V&amp;A Inv. no. 2145-1855 and 232-1867; Madrid, Museo Lazzaro Galdiano, inv. 346; Rouen, départment des Antiquités, inv. 2005.2.12; Ernest Brummer Sale Catalogue, Zurich, 16-18 October 1979, I, cat. no. 87.  \r\n","physicalDescription":"The comb is decorated with three medallions, a male bust between two female busts on one side, and a female bust between two male busts on the other. Between these heads is a border of pierced foliate scrollwork, with a bearded profile mask carved at each end, between further panels of pierced foliate scrollwork.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved ivory, arabesque scroll-work","categories":[{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2011FC2498","2011FC2497","2017KC8135"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"017","id":"THES395636"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Comb","id":"x44078"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1500-1550","earliest":"1500-01-01","latest":"1550-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"11","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"01/05/2019","earliest":"2019-05-01","latest":"2019-05-01"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"15.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"01/05/2019","earliest":"2019-05-01","latest":"2019-05-01"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"0.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"01/05/2019","earliest":"2019-05-01","latest":"2019-05-01"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Bought for £17 in 1855 from the Bernal Collection at Christies's, London, March 1855, lot 1619.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Comb, ivory, containing male and female busts, French, ca. 1550","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1855. <u>In</u>: <u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I</u>. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 66"},{"reference":{"text":"Longhurst, Margaret H., <u>Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory</u>. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929","id":"AUTH329986"},"details":"p.72","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Trusted, Marjorie, <u>Baroque & Later Ivories</u>, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013","id":"AUTH329728"},"details":"","free":""},{"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.5","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Philippe Malgouyres, <u>Ivoires du musée du Louvre. 1480-1850 Une collection inédite</u>, exh. cat. Dieppe, 2005, p. 50, note 2"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Philippe Malgouyres, <u>Ivoires de la Renaissance et des temps modernes. La Collection du musée du Louvre</u>, Paris 2010, p. 185"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Philippe Malgouyres and Philippe Pagnotta, <u>Histoires d'ivoire. Collections du Musée du Louvre et des musées de Châlons-en-Champagne </u>, exh. cat. Châlons-en-Champagne, 2007-08, p. 40, note 9"}],"production":"French ","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"scroll-work","id":"AAT10205"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["2144-1855"],"accessionNumberNum":"2144","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1855,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Comb arabesques and medallions enclosing busts","Fragment"],"assets":["2021MY9735"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-22","recordCreationDate":"2008-04-24","availableToBook":true}}