the
arms of France and of Berry are also carved on the face of the towers.
Around the base are the figures of the twelve apostles. In one of the
two largest niches is sculptured the Duc de Berry, uncle of Charles VI
of France, accompanied by his patron and an angel, and his wife, Jeanne
Comtesse d'Auvergne et de Boulogne, similarly accompanied. The various
sides bear numerous groups of bas-reliefs, one set illustrating the
life of St. John the Evangelist.*
A
considerable number of guilds were engaged in ivory carving in Paris in
the thirteenth century, either using this material exclusively, or in
connection with others. M. Henry Havardf calls attention to the fact
that M. Labarte, in enumerating but three such guilds, has
underestimated their number as reported in the "Registres de Mestiere
et Marchanderies de la Ville de Paris," by Etienne Boileau, appointed
"garde de la prévôté de Paris" in 1258, by Louis IX. Besides the
"ymagiers tailleurs," the "peintres et tailleurs-ymages," and the
"fabricants de tables à écrire," we must add the "couteliers faiseurs
de manches" (knife-handle makers), the "paternostriers faiseurs de
noyaux à robes" (rosary makers and those making beads for
dress-trimmings), the "pingniers et lanterniers de Paris," who were
permitted to work in bone and ivory and, lastly, the "déciers, faiseurs
de dés à tables et à eschiés" (makers of checker pieces and chessmen,
as well as of dice). Thus no less than seven of the corporations made
use of ivory in their work.
Of
the thirteenth-century ivory carvers the "Livre des Mestiers de Paris"
gives, under Title LXI, the following: "Whosoever wishes to become an
image-maker (ymagier)
*See Emile Molinier, Musée National du Louvre; "Catalogue des Ivoires," Paris [1896], pp. 217-232.
fHenry Havard, "Dictionnaire de l'ameublement," Paris, η. d., Vol. Ill, cols. 59, 60. Article Ivoire.
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