Boxwood Specimen (Buxus sempervirens)

Boxwood was cultivated in Northern Europe in the Middle Ages. Although this evergreen plant grows slowly, boxwood forests in France provided raw material for artists as well as makers of scientific and musical instruments. While difficult to carve, it was appreciated for its smooth, fine grain and the precise detail that could be achieved. The artworks gathered here now have an appealing chocolate tone; freshly carved boxwood is creamier, approaching ivory.

Native to the Mediterranean, boxwood retained an association with the Holy Land in the minds of medieval Christians, a notion reinforced by contemporary translations of the Bible that mentioned it and by a belief that it was one of the woods used to make the Cross. In European churches of the Middle Ages (and still today), priests and parishioners carried branches of boxwood in Palm Sunday processions. Prayer beads of wood were used even by kings during Lent, the forty days of fasting and repentance before Easter.