
Wyvern Collection: Objects in Focus Volume 1
The Baird Casket
Paul Williamson(Author)
Paul Holberton Publishing Ltd
Published on 23. September 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
56 pages
978-1-915401-18-2 (ISBN)
Description
This book presents an in-depth examination of a singular medieval ivory casket known as the 'Baird Casket'.
It is the first in a series of scholarly books to be produced by the Wyvern Research Institute. Each volume will be devoted to an individual object in the Wyvern Collection, one of the world's pre-eminent private collections.
Combining art historical research with technical analysis, this new series captures the Wyvern Institute's mission to stimulate new lines of investigation an disseminate fresh critical insights for a broad audience. Each monograph will highlight an intriguing or previously unpublished object in the Collection, opening a private collection up not only to researchers but also to the public. The Baird Casket is an extraordinary survival which was completely unknown to the public until shortly before its emergence on the art market in Edinburgh in 2021. Showing scenes of combat with wild men and their capture alongside carvings celebrating the power of the sword, it combines imagery that is unique amongst the corpus of surviving ivories with a remarkable provenance, which dates to the late 17th century. Williamson draws on his extensive expertise to present a complete examination of the casket, ranging from its history in the possession of the Baird family to its facture and interpretation. In doing so he presents a new reading of the scenes depicted and uncovers a possible identity of the original intended owner. The casket has only been published once previously in a 2022 journal article, making this more detailed discussion an exciting and valuable new contribution to the field of medieval studies. Furthermore, the analysis will be accompanied by full-page plates of the Baird Casket and numerous images of comparable objects, including a group of seven similar composite caskets, also making this the first time that all eight caskets will have been showcased together in a single publication.
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing
It is the first in a series of scholarly books to be produced by the Wyvern Research Institute. Each volume will be devoted to an individual object in the Wyvern Collection, one of the world's pre-eminent private collections.
Combining art historical research with technical analysis, this new series captures the Wyvern Institute's mission to stimulate new lines of investigation an disseminate fresh critical insights for a broad audience. Each monograph will highlight an intriguing or previously unpublished object in the Collection, opening a private collection up not only to researchers but also to the public. The Baird Casket is an extraordinary survival which was completely unknown to the public until shortly before its emergence on the art market in Edinburgh in 2021. Showing scenes of combat with wild men and their capture alongside carvings celebrating the power of the sword, it combines imagery that is unique amongst the corpus of surviving ivories with a remarkable provenance, which dates to the late 17th century. Williamson draws on his extensive expertise to present a complete examination of the casket, ranging from its history in the possession of the Baird family to its facture and interpretation. In doing so he presents a new reading of the scenes depicted and uncovers a possible identity of the original intended owner. The casket has only been published once previously in a 2022 journal article, making this more detailed discussion an exciting and valuable new contribution to the field of medieval studies. Furthermore, the analysis will be accompanied by full-page plates of the Baird Casket and numerous images of comparable objects, including a group of seven similar composite caskets, also making this the first time that all eight caskets will have been showcased together in a single publication.
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
40 colour illus.
Dimensions
Height: 280 mm
Width: 365 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight
252 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-915401-18-2 (9781915401182)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Paul Williamson is Keeper Emeritus and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. His many books include Gothic Sculpture 1140-1300 (Yale, 1995), Medieval and Renaissance Stained Glass in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A, 2003), Medieval Ivory Carvings: Early Christian to Romanesque (V&A, 2010). He has written three catalogues of The Wyvern Collection, as well as a supplementary volume on Medieval and Renaissance additions to the collection (Ad Ilissvm, 2024).