Walruses, Whales and Narwhals

• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English; French
• Published: Calenda 2016
• Subjects: Baleine; la Baleine; Morse; narwhal*; morse; walrus*
• Online Access: http://calenda.org/374244

In the history of carved ivories, maritime mammals have often been eclipsed by the elephant, considered as a nobler ivory to which walrus or whale ivory would only be a poor man's substitute. But this historiographical view is not without its shortcomings, as not only did walrus hunting play a significant role in the first European explorations toward the west, but the trade for those ivories went as far as the Islamic world and even the Far East. This session at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, sponsored by the National Museum of Scotland, aims to address the variety of questions posed by the maritime ivories: how the raw material was collected, how it was traded, the workshops that carved them and their specific symbolic value in medieval treasuries Dans l'histoire de la sculpture sur ivoire, les mammifères marins ont souvent été éclipsés par l'éléphant, vu comme un ivoire plus noble dont le morse ou la baleine ne seraient que des succédanés. Mais cette vision historiographique n'est pas sans faiblesses. Non seulement la chasse au morse joua un rôle significatif dans l'expansion européenne vers l'Ouest, mais le commerce de ces ivoires s'étendit jusqu'au monde islamique voire à l'Extrême-Orient. Cette session du 52e International Congress on Medieval Studies, sponsorisée par le National Museum of Scotland, vise à étudier les ivoires maritimes sous tous leurs aspects, collecte du matériau brut, commerce, ateliers et valeur symbolique.