Tactile Pleasures: Secular Gothic Ivories

This study approaches secular Gothic ivory mirror cases from the fourteenth century. Even more specifically, it considers scenes of so-called "romance" or "courtly" couples, which were often given as love pledges and used as engagement presents. There has been a recent flourishing of art historical interest in materiality and visual culture, focusing on the production, distribution, consumption, and significance of objects in everyday life, and my examination adds to that body of work. My purpose is not to provide a survey, history, or chronology of these objects, but rather to highlight one important, yet little-studied aspect. My dissertation situates the sensation of touch in the context of a wider understanding of the relationship between the object and the human body, with specific secular Gothic ivories as case studies. I investigate, through the imagery and physical evidence, the ways in which these objects inform and are informed by tactile exploration. The size, material, and subjects of these ivories both encouraged and rewarded close study and touching. Secular Gothic ivory appealed to the sense of touch and Gothic people touched and were inclined to think about touch when looking at and holding these objects. The repetition in ivory decoration of men and women looking, touching, and offering themselves as objects to be looked at and touched suggests to me that these individuals were seeing surrogate selves represented in ivory. Ideally, the reader comes away with an appreciation for the role of the sense of touch in experiencing art.