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| St. Martin and the Beggar Germany, 1320 The Victoria & Albert Museum |
Ivory, though considered quite disgusting and barbarous now, was used all over Europe for religious works of art since antiquity--usually combined with precious metals. The material often was used for relief panels which adorned everything from book covers to portable altars and caskets. The use of ivory was especially rampant during the Roman and Byzantine Empires well into the 14th Century. By the 1300s, the use of the medium became more sophisticated and free-standing pieces in full-relief were more common.
Here, from 1320, we have an ivory figure of St. Martin who is depicted bare-headed, turning in his saddle and dividing his cloak with his sword in order to share it with a beggar, who stands supporting himself on a crutch. The piece was made in Köln, Germany by an unknown sculptor. Traces of pigment and gilding still show, indicating that the piece was once wholly polychrome.
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