French 15th Century Boxwood Comb

First, I’d like to thank the ebay community, especially 0o–seamstress–o0, qmbridges, bengaltiger55, igmato, kynana33, mypinkmimosa, dorothy4284, and pelliott4dz0 for their prayers and comments. They touched my heart and were most appreciated.

Today, I’d like to go back to a subject I talked about earlier in the blog, 15th-century French ivory- and boxwood-carved H combs. First used as religious objects, their designs went secular just about the time madrigals left the church and started being about love.

This comb, being sold at Sothebys, est. $12,000, has multiple panels, and a pierced heart on one side, a Romanesque motif on the other. It might be part of that tradition of ideas, but it is in perfect condition, and I think magnificent. To think that the French made H combs at all, given what they did to comb making 400 years later is amazing to me.