re perhaps more beautiful than others, the little figures
standing in the carved volutes being especially delicate and graceful.

[Illustration: PASTORAL STAFF; IVORY, GERMAN, 12TH CENTURY]

Before a mediaeval bishop could perform mass he was enveloped in
a wrapper, and his hair was combed "respectfully and lightly" (no
tugging!) by the deacon. This being a part of the regular ceremonial,
special carved combs of ivory, known as Liturgical Combs, were used.
Many of them remain in collections, and they are often ornamented in
the most delightful way, with little processions and Scriptural scenes
in bas-relief. In the Regalia of England, there was mentioned among
things destroyed in 1649, "One old comb of horn, worth nothing."
According to Davenport, this may have been the comb used in smoothing
the king's hair on the occasion of a Coronation.

The rich pulpit at Aix la Chapelle is covered with plates of gold
set with stones and ivory carvings; these are very fine. It was
given to the cathedral by the Emperor Henry II. The inscription
may be thus translated: "Artfully brightened in gold and precious
stones, this pulpit is here dedicated by King Henry with reverence,
desirous of celestial glory: richly it is decorated with his own
treasures, for you, most Holy Virgin, in order that you may obtain
the highest gain as a future reward for him." The sentiment is
not entirely disinterested; but are not motives generally mixed?
St. Bernard preached a Crusade from this pulpit in 1146. The ivory
carvings are very ancient, and remarkably fine, representing figures
from the Greek myths.

Ivory handles were usual for the fly-fan, or flabellum, used at
the altar, to keep flies and other insects away from the Elements.
One entry in an inventory in 1429 might be confusing if one did not
know of this custom: the article is mentioned as "one muscifugium
de pecock" meaning a fly-fan of peacock's feathers!

Small round ivory boxes elaborately sculptured were used both for
Reserving the Host and for containing relics. In the inventory of
the Church of St. Mary Hill, London, was mentioned, in the fifteenth
century, "a lytill yvory cofyr with relyks." At Durham, in 1383,
there is an account of an "ivory casket conteining a vestment of
St. John the Baptist," and in the fourteenth century, in the same
collection, was "a tooth of St. Gendulphus, good for the Falling
Sickness, in a small ivory pyx."

[Illustration: IVORY MIRROR CASE; EARTH 1