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2 - The Shape of the Grail in Medieval Art
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- By Martine Meuwese, University of Pittsburgh
- Edited by Norris J. Lacy
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- Book:
- The Grail, the Quest, and the World of Arthur
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 05 February 2013
- Print publication:
- 20 November 2008, pp 13-27
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Summary
What exactly is the Grail and what shape does it have? Is it a dish, a bowl, a chalice, a ciborium or a stone? Is it made of wood, stone, silver or gold? The answers to these questions vary from text to text. In the numerous medieval literary works in which it appears, the Grail assumes many forms and functions. Most often the Grail is supposed to have been used by Christ during the Last Supper and to have been entrusted to Joseph of Arimathea, who used it to catch the blood flowing from the wounds of Christ at the Entombment. This sacred object usually has power as a provider of food; it heals the wounded and is surrounded by mystery.
The appeal of the Holy Grail is not confined to the Middle Ages. Not only does it play a major part in Dan Brown's best-selling murder mystery The Da Vinci Code, it also featured as the ultimate quest object in popular movies like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This movie even includes a ‘Grail test’ towards the end, in which those who fulfilled the quest are subjected to one last trial: to choose the Grail from a huge variety of cups and chalices displayed on a table. The ‘Bad Guy’ makes the wrong choice; he selects the most beautiful chalice on the table, assuming that the Grail is the cup of a King of Kings, whereas Indiana Jones makes the right choice by choosing the most plain and simple cup, one befitting a carpenter.
V - Chrétien in Ivory
- Edited by Elizabeth Archibald, University of Durham, David F. Johnson, Florida State University
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- Book:
- Arthurian Literature XXV
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 10 March 2023
- Print publication:
- 17 July 2008, pp 119-152
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Summary
After Lancelot has lost all his hair due to a medical treatment, he desires that the hair should be put into an ivory box and sent to Guenevere. When the Queen receives the box, she is delighted and kisses it as if it were a sacred relic. Lancelot is no exception in giving his beloved lady an ivory box as a present. Luxury objects in ivory with secular images carved in low relief were often gifts from men to women as part of the rituals of courtship and marriage. In daily life, the small ivory boxes were probably used as receptacles for jewels or small objects of value. Gothic secular ivory carving flourished in Paris in the first decades of the fourteenth century. The subjects with which the ivories were carved often show courtly scenes and topics from a scope of romance literature, highlighting the glorification of true love. Adventures from Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian romances Perceval, Lancelot, and Yvain were carved on ivory boxes, a mirrorcase, and a writing tablet. Contemporary with the appearances on the ivory objects, these scenes were also painted in illustration cycles in Arthurian manuscripts. Were the scenes selected for the ivories obvious choices? Are they directly based on Chrétien's text? Were the same scenes illustrated in the manuscripts, and if so, are there parallels or divergences in the iconography, and what does all this tell us about the reception of Chrétien's Arthurian romances?
The Perceval Casket
Ivory caskets illustrating a single literary theme are rare. A Parisian casket dated to 1310–1330, kept in the Louvre, is the only ivory showing episodes from the beginning of Chrétien's Perceval. The story unfolds on the side panels. The cycle begins on the short left side with the encounter of Perceval with three Arthurian knights on horseback in the forest (Fig. 1). Perceval wears his ‘Welsh’ garb and a bow on his shoulder in order to symbolize the hunt. The knights, whom Perceval believes to be angels, bear flowers on their shields. This flower blazon does not feature in Arthurian heraldry, but it is typical for knights at the siege of the Castle of Love, a theme that was especially popular on the ‘composite caskets’ that will be discussed later in this article. Perceval kneels in awe in front of the knights and decides that he wants to be a knight himself.