A finely carved ivory double comb from the twelfth century has gone on show on the LWL Museum of Archaeology and Tradition in Herne, Germany. Considered one of solely 60 recognized examples, the comb is what is called a liturgical comb, and the one one ever discovered within the area of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The comb was found in a 2017 excavation on the Holsterburg octagonal fortress close to Warburg. It has an oblong central panel on each side, every embellished with a unique intricately carved pictorial motifs. One aspect includes a looking scene of a canine attacking a hare in mid-leap. The opposite options to peacocks dealing with one another, chests collectively, wings and tails pointed backwards. It has two units of tooth, lengthy, wide-set ones on the underside, brief high quality ones on the highest.
Created from elephant ivory, the comb might have been made within the Byzantine Empire or one of many main workshops north of the Alps (Metz, Liège and Cologne all produced high quality carved ivory). The fabric and craftsmanship mark it as a “liturgical” comb, so referred to as as a result of the few which were recovered had been present in church treasuries, not in secular collections. Liturgical combs had been produced between 800 and 1200 A.D. and there are written accounts of a majority of these combs getting used from the tenth century onwards to neaten the hair of prelates after they pulled on their vestments.
A latest microscopic examine has discovered the stays of gold within the eye of the hare and on the deal with above the peacocks, recommend it was initially chryselephantine, so much more treasured and uncommon than different liturgical combs. It was additionally not present in a sacred context and given the pictorial topics, archaeologists consider the comb doubtless belonged to the lords of Holthusen who constructed the fortress and was misplaced within the third quarter of the twelfth century.
Holsterburg uncommon octagonal design and the top quality of its development together with facilities like a warm-air heating system point out it was high-end even for a fortress from the interval, so the house owners clearly spared no expense. Their belongings had been due to this fact distinctive as nicely, they usually had been sought to symbolize their significance and ambitions by buying artifacts emblematic of high-ranking clergy and aristocracy.
The comb was conserved by LWL specialists after which was displayed in particular exhibitions in Berlin, Münster, and Paderborn. It has now settled into its everlasting residence, the LWL Museum in Herne.
