Olifant of Saint-Orens of Auch

On its central part, the olifant displays eight facets, each furnished with birds, quadrupeds and fantastical animals inserted in the sinews of a leafy stalk; a small cross of Malta appears in a circle. The pavilion, which becomes circular again, is underlined by two rings decorated with a vegetal festoon. It is surrounded by a large frieze made up of animals inserted in rings. In a more brief sequence, this band reappears at the mouthpiece as well as the two accompanying rings.

Certain characteristics of the decoration – exaggeration of the head and the eye, curvilinear drawing of the bodies, representation of the feathers and fur by commas, inscription of the figures in circles – enable us to link the work to the Italian workshops of Amalfi, in Campani, and more particularly to a family of ivory craftsmen known in the eleventh and twelfth centuries: the Mansone. This name appears in a Latin inscription engraved on an ivory pen box, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Whatever the case may be, this “Christian” olifant, marked by its cross of Malta, was decorated in a style strongly influenced by Muslim ivories produced in the same era in the workshops of al-Andalus or Fatimid Egypt, or even in those of Sicily, the latter being the place where cultures intertwined par excellence. The Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar has in its possession an Oliphant which is entirely sculpted with animal figures, attributed to Amalfi or Venice, the style of which is close to this one. These ivories reflecting the art of the Muslim Mediterranean, but manufactured outside of its domain, are often qualified as “Sarrasin”.

Furthermore, we know the commercial and political importance of the city of Amalfi and the links which it maintained with the Muslim Orient during this period. It was the merchants of Amalfi who founded the first hospital organisation in Palestine to succour Christian pilgrims, a foundation which was the primitive form of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (1099).

The legend of Roland, nephew of Charlemagne who fell under Muslim swords, started up a real cult in France which has meant that olifants are always “horns of Roland” and they are venerated as relics. The olifant of the church of Saint-Orens d’Auch, like that of the church of Saint-Sernin de Toulouse, or that of Saint-Trophime d’Arles, were considered to have belonged to the valiant knight. The character of Roland had become the emblematic figure of the hero fighting for his faith at the time of the Crusades. In Auch, one would blow in the olifant to invite the faithful to services. Let us recall the legend: in 778, ten years before the death of the Emir of Cordoba ‘Abd al-Rahmân I, Charlemagne king of the Franks undertook and expedition to Saragossa which was then populated with relatively independent Muslims. On the return the Frank rearguard, led by his nephew Roland, was attached in a vally of theh Ebre called Roncevaux. We do not know if the assailants were Arabs or Vascons. Roland, despite the calls of his horn, was not saved in time. This episode, little clarified by the chronicles of the time, whether they were Arab or Latin, became an epic over time and was at the origin of the first poetic work in the French language: the Chanson de Roland. Written at the beginning of the twelfth century, following an oral tradition, this poem contributed to the popularisation of the figure of Charlemagne’s nephew. It could be contemporary with this oliphant.