Roach Smith 1854: 13th century.
Dalton 1909: English, early 14th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: English (London), early 14th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Carved on both sides.
Object Condition
Missing: most of the comb.
Broken teeth. The dark colour of the ivory is likely to have been caused by being buried in earth.
Comments
This fragment is from the central band of a comb.
Provenance
Found in London. Collection of Charles Roach Smith (b. 1806, d. 1890), (no. 1501): bought from him by the British Museum in 1856.
Bibliography
C. Roach Smith, Catalogue of the Museum of London Antiquities, 1854, no. 758.
F. W. Fairholt, Costume in England (London, 1885), 3rd edition, II, p. 127.
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 254.
D. A. Porter, Ivory Carvings in Later Medieval England 1200-1400 (unpublished PhD thesis, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1974), no. 60.
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