This mixture of pique mosaic soon comes into general use, encouraged as it is by the Venetian and Sicilian artists, who were in constant association with Arabian works and even with Arabian artisans. Mirror cases new are multiplied, and caskets embellished with scenes from the "Roman de la Rose," or the "Conquete du Chateau d'Amour," with those slim and graceful figures attired in the costume of the period. Within compartments guarded by fantastic dragons, or bristling with crosier foliage, appear the trefoil or rose medallions. The fourteenth century, developing the style, now avails itself of all the delicate tracery of the pointed Gothic. Reliquaries become cathedrals, and the caskets, monuments, while gold and colour heighten the effect of the delicate mullions and pierced crockets. Some of these caskets that seem to have added the charm of chased metal to their other mountings, acquire the perfection and elegance of the goldsmith's work. As characteristic specimens of this branch of Art, we may refer to the great reliquary at Cluny, containing fifty-one bas-reliefs, and to the celebrated retable of Poissy, one of the most curious pieces in the Louvre. It was executed in bone with marquetry, framed by order of Jean de Berri, brother of Charles V. and Jeanne de Boulogne, his second wife, who have had themselves represented on it, assisted by their patron saints. The name of the donor is verified by the shield of France with its border engrailed in gules, the arms of the Due de Berri. We may also mention an historical monument in the Cluny Museum, formerly forming part of the treasures of the Carthusian Monastery at Dijon. This is the oratory of the duchesses of Burgundy, ivory tablets embellished with figures and subjects in reliefs singularly well executed, and representing the Life and Passion of the Saviour and St. John the Baptist. Here also the framework is relieved with coloured marquetry. In the archives of the department of the Cote-d'Or, where have been deposited the records of the Dijon Chartreuse, there has been discovered the following entry, imparting quite an exceptional interest to these carvings:-

"Accounts of Amiot Arnaut from 1392-1393. Paid 500 livres to Berthelot Heliot, 'varlet-de-chambre' of the duke (Philip the Bold), for two large ivory tablets with images, one of which is 'the Passion of our Lord,' and the other, the 'Life of Monsieur saint Jean-Baptiste,' which he has sold for the Carthusians".

At this epoch, nothing was more common than these little portable chapels, usually composed of two tablets connected together, and commonly designated as diptychs, like the old consular tablets. But the nature of the subjects represented on them, and often their shaped form prevents any risk of their being mistaken for the more ancient ones.

We cannot leave this subject without speaking of certain ecclesiastical objects, crosses, crosiers, taus, and pastoral staves. Their ornamentation doubtless partakes of the general style of the period; but there is to be found in them valuable indications on manners, and progress of Art, from the crosier with square staff and simple volute of the twelfth century, to those with indicated chasings and subjects on both sides, characteristic of the fourteenth.

As regards the manners of chivalry, a curious hint is supplied by the oliphants. But in this case the question of origin requires careful consideration. Some of these warders' horns, of Norman workmanship, are covered with entangled vegetation, cut of which rise fanciful and fabulous animals. Others enclose, in less complicated interlacings, birds and quadrupeds, most frequently of the feline order. Here it becomes necessary to draw a distinction based on the style, as some may be oriental, and others imitations from the first in the Middle Ages.

But times change, and the Renaissance soon introduces a new element into the workmanship of ivory. Two opposing currents, both equally powerful, now meet together; and the result is further progress. We have, on the one hand, the national French style, perfected in the Burgundian workshops, and, under the fostering care of the dukes, attaining unrivalled excellence. No further proof of this is needed, than the little figure belonging to Baron Gustave de Rothschild, representing St. George vanquishing the Dragon. Equipped in a complete cuirass, a mantle of silver cloth falling from his shoulders, the sainted knight barely rests with the tip of his peaked shoes (solerets a poulaine) upon the monster he has overthrown and is about to cleave asunder with his triumphant sword. His open helmet reveals a delicate and serious countenance, with all the characteristics of a real portrait. If so, it must be that of the Duke of Burgundy himself, for whom this masterpiece was intended. Assuredly, after such triumphs, the Art could now make no further progress; it could but modify its style. It is this change which is called the Renaissance.

Before studying its effects, and calculating the extent of its influence, let us, if at all possible, associate a few personal names with these old works, and thus rescue from oblivion, artists so clearly entitled to lasting fame. In the inventory of Charles V., Lebraellier is described as having carved "two fine large ivory tablets of the three Marys." In 1391, we find Henry des Gres, "pignier" (carver of combs); in 1392, Heliot, already mentioned; in 1454, Henry de Senlis, "tabletier," and in 1484, Philip Daniel, "pignier tabletier" in Paris.

From the Mediaeval to the Renaissance, combs played a great part in social use, and in the Arts. They were richly decorated with carvings in bas-relief, representing scriptural subjects, legends, and armorial bearings. Some of these subjects were of a purely religious character, while ethers mingled the sacred with the profane, such as the "Judgment of Paris," with "David and Bethsheba." Elsewhere we have the "Adoration of the Magi," and the "Flight into Egypt," side by side with the "Lay of Aristotle," and other scenes from metrical romances. The reason of this was because the comb formed part of the wedding-gifts, and was looked for in the "corbeille," together with the mirror case, the busk, the distaff, the spindle, the shuttle, and those thousand other trifles, articles of the toilet or of housewifery, elevated by Art to the rank of jewels.

Ivory coffer ornamented with perforated rosettes and copper clasps ; fourteenth century. (Old Le Carpentier Collection.).