Olifant (instrument)

For other uses, see Olifant (disambiguation).
Olifant from the Le Musée Paul Dupuy of Toulouse
Olifant from the treasury of Aachen Cathedral
Roland blows his olifant to summon help in the midst of the Battle of Roncevaux.

Olifant (also known as oliphant) was the name applied in the Middle Ages to a type of carved ivory hunting horn created from elephant tusks.[1] Olifants were most prominently used in Europe from roughly the tenth to the sixteenth century, although there are later examples.[2] The surviving inventories of Renaissance treasuries and armories document that Europeans, especially in France, Germany and England, owned trumpets in a variety of media that were used to signal, both in war and hunting. They were manufactured primarily in Italy (from either African or Indian elephant tusk), but towards the end of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, they were also made in Africa for a European market.[1] Typically, they were made with relief carvings that showed animal and human combat scenes, hunting scenes, fantastic beasts, and European heraldry.[1] About seventy-five ivory hunting horns survive and about half can be found in museums and church treasuries, while others are in private collections or their locations remain unknown.[3]

  1. ^ a b c Ebitz, David (2003). "Oliphant". Gove Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T063433. ISBN 978-1-884446-05-4. Retrieved 2023-04-22 – via Oxford Art Online.
  2. ^ Bassani, Ezio; Fagg, William B. (1988). Vogel, Susan (ed.). Africa and the Renaissance: Art in Ivory. The Center for African Art; Prestel-Verlag. pp. 90–108, 200–201. ISBN 978-3791308807. OCLC 18715480.
  3. ^ Backa, Rachel (June 2015). "A Viking Treasure: The Horn of Ulph". In Vorholt, Hanna; Young, Peter (eds.). 1414: John Neuton and the Re-Foundation of York Minster Library.