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Oliphant
Southern Italian (Sicily or Salerno)
Medieval
11th century
Object Place: Europe, Italy
Medium/Technique
Ivory
Dimensions
Overall (maximum diameter): 53.3 x 12.7 cm (21 x 5 in.)
Credit Line
Frederick Brown Fund and H. E. Bolles Fund
Accession Number50.3426
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Aerophones
Oliphant is the medieval French word for elephant. African elephant ivory, one of the most precious materials used in medieval art came to southern Italian ports through trade with the Islamic East as early as the tenth century. Oliphants were primarily intended for display although are fashioned like horns for hunting and war. The graphic hunting scenes carved on one oliphant in this case may allude to the owner's prowess on the fields of battle and the hunt. The delicate, abstract carving on the second oliphant reflects the influence of Egyptian art and the cultural exchanges resulting from international trade. (2W03, 2004).
DescriptionLarge tusk with three bands of carved ornament at large end, two of them cut on a raised band; at small end are two similar raised bands and two bands of flat cutting.
ProvenanceGraf von Walderdorff, Hesse, Germany [see note 1]. 1928, J. Rosenbaum, Frankfurt; probably sold by Rosenbaum to Baron Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (b. 1843 - d. 1940), Frankfurt [see note 2]; November 11, 1938, sold by force to the city of Frankfurt (no. GR32), probably for the Museum für Kunsthandwerk; February 26, 1949, restituted by the city of Frankfurt to the estate of Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild [see note 3]; 1950, sold by the Goldschmidt-Rothschild estate to Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York; 1950, sold by Rosenberg and Stiebel to the MFA for $3500. (Accession Date: November 9, 1950)
NOTES:
[1] Hanns Swarzenski, "Two Oliphants in the Museum," MFA Bulletin 60, no. 320 (1962): p. 45 and Ernst Kühnel, Die Islamischen Elfenbeinskulpturen, VIII - XIII Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1971), p. 52, cat. no. 52.
[2] Otto von Falke, "Elfenbeinhörner. II. Byzanz," Pantheon 5 (1930): p. 42 records the oliphant with Rosenbaum in 1928. Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild was an active client of the Rosenbaum firm, which helped him build his collection.
[3] In November 1938 Nazi authorities forced Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild to sell his art collection to the city of Frankfurt. Upon his death in 1940, the objects were transferred to and accessioned by various city museums. After the war, his heirs succeeded in legally voiding the 1938 sale and recovering the collection, which was sent to the United States. See Matthias Wagner K and Katharina Weiler, eds., "The Collection of Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild" (exh. cat., Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, 2023), pp. 107-154.
NOTES:
[1] Hanns Swarzenski, "Two Oliphants in the Museum," MFA Bulletin 60, no. 320 (1962): p. 45 and Ernst Kühnel, Die Islamischen Elfenbeinskulpturen, VIII - XIII Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1971), p. 52, cat. no. 52.
[2] Otto von Falke, "Elfenbeinhörner. II. Byzanz," Pantheon 5 (1930): p. 42 records the oliphant with Rosenbaum in 1928. Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild was an active client of the Rosenbaum firm, which helped him build his collection.
[3] In November 1938 Nazi authorities forced Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild to sell his art collection to the city of Frankfurt. Upon his death in 1940, the objects were transferred to and accessioned by various city museums. After the war, his heirs succeeded in legally voiding the 1938 sale and recovering the collection, which was sent to the United States. See Matthias Wagner K and Katharina Weiler, eds., "The Collection of Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild" (exh. cat., Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, 2023), pp. 107-154.