10th-11th century AD. A bone comb with fine-cut teeth, broad rectangular handle with low-relief reserved nativity scene depicting Mary reclining on a mattress and resting her head on one hand, seated bearded Joseph at her feet, above a manger or crib with infant Jesus and heads of a donkey and ox. See Tschan-Emmons, J.B., Artifacts from Medieval Europe, Santa Barbara, 2015, see pp.127ff, for discussion.69.9 grams, 10cm (4"). Property of a Sussex teacher; formerly in a private collection formed in Hamburg, Germany, in the 1990s. Combs in Rome and Byzantium were one of the several normal grooming and beauty aids. Unlike normal combs, the liturgical ones were normally carved from a single piece of material and usually of high-quality substance, such as bone and ivory. Everyday combs from 9th and 10th century AD normally had teeth along one side and the teeth were generally set within a frame or carved into the comb. Both secular and liturgical combs had decoration in keeping with the Orthodox religion, like iconography associated with Salvation (like the present specimen), but sometimes merely secular (Tschan-Emmons, 2015, p.128").