Several examples can be seen at Toiletries Through the Ages , including an Egyptian wooden double-sided comb, a Scythian gold comb, a medieval composite double-sided bone comb, and an ivory double-sided comb.
Also check out reenactors' webpages about creating period-style combs, and other related links, in the Antler Combs section of the Atlantian A&S Links.
Gold comb with Scythians in battle , 5th-4th centuries BC
Wooden comb , Gallo-Roman, 1st-4th centuriesIvory comb, India, 2nd centuryV&A Access to Images and search for Museum Number IM.21-1937 .
Bone comb from South Shields , 2nd-4th centuryAntler bone comb from Roman-occupied Britain Ivory comb of Modestina , Roman, 3rd-4th centuriesBone comb , 4th-5th centuriesAntler comb and another antler comb , Winchester (Roman Britain), 4th or early 5th centuryDouble-sided combs made from antler from Anglian York Horn and bronze comb , 5th centuryBone combs from the 5th-7th centuriesBone combs , Frankish/Merovingian, 5th-8th centuries; another Frankish/Merovingian bone comb Bone/antler comb and comb-case from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Buckland, Kent Bone and antler comb from an early Saxon settlement in Hammersmith, 6th centuryIvory liturgical comb (called "St. Berthuin's comb") , 6th centuryAn ivory comb carved with a sitting figure and three standing figures, 7th centuryThe so-called Comb of Theodelinda , ivory with silver and sapphires, made in Lombardy in the 7th centuryBone combs and case , 6th-8th centuriesComb from Anglo-Saxon Canterbury, described thus : "Made from animal bone with iron rivets to secure side plates. The use of recycled animal bone was very common in the past. Decorated with 'ring and dot' design."Eighth century Ivory comb found in an Anglo-Saxon house
Ivory liturgical comb with a design of two young women's heads, 8th centuryIvory liturgical comb (called "St. Hubert's comb") , 8th centuryBone combs from Westminster, late 8th century to 9th centuryBone comb , 8th-10th centuriesTwo late Saxon combs from Longmarket Ninth century ivory liturgical comb associated with Saint Loup (towards bottom of webpage)
The so-called Comb of St. Heribert , c. 851-900Ivory comb depicting either Sampson or David with a lion , made in Metz around 875-900Antler comb with matching case , Viking, 9th-10th century, from York, EnglandComposite single comb , Swedish, 9th-11th centuryViking combs and other tools for grooming Photos of combs at the Historisk museum in Oslo Viking bone and antler combs Gilded comb top , Liao dynasty China, 10th centuryIvory comb with stylized horses, 10th centuryBoxwood comb with poker worked ornaments , Colletire , France, early 11th centuryThe comb of St. Ulrich , 11th century?Delousing comb and scissors found on the Serçe Limani shipwreck , 1020sAntler tooth-plate fragment from a composite comb found in York dating to the 11th centuryGilt liturgical double-comb , 11th centuryLiturgical comb , ivory, 11th centuryDouble one-piece comb made of antler , Swedish, 11th-12th centuryLiturgical comb (reliquary of St. Hadelin) , ivory, Meuse river yalley, 11th-12th centuryIvory comb , late 11th century, found in WalesAn ivory comb , possibly made in southern Italy, c. 1080-1120Bone comb , 1100-1220, FinlandThe comb of the Mother of God , from the cloister of the Sisters of the Holy Ghost, c. 1101-1150The beard-comb of the Holy Roman Emperor , ivory with gold and precious stones, 12th centurySaint Albans liturgical comb , ivory, made in 1120English Liturgical comb , ivory, ca. 1200-1210 (also here )
Zodiac: the sign of the Ram , Georgius Zothorus' Liber astrologiae (BNF Lat. 7330, fol. 7), 2nd quarter of the 13th centuryBone combs , 12th-13th century; another bone comb , 12th-13th centuryIvory comb with two birds in circles, southern Italy, 13th centuryFragment of an ivory comb with the legend of St. Clemens, c. 1201-1215Fragment of a French ivory comb with religious scenes , 1250-1300
Composite double comb , Swedish, 13th-15th centuryHell , a bible (BNF Fr. 13096, fol. 86v), 1313Mural cycle showing the processing of silk and flax at the Kanonikerhaus in Constance, Germany, c. 1320: one woman combs another woman's hair
She hadde bath, sche hadde reste,
Confessio Amantis Incipit Liber Primus: Part 1 ,
The Luttrell Psalter (British Library MS. ADD. 42130), c. 1325-1335: In this illustration of a servant dressing a lady's hair (fol. 63), there is a double-sided wooden comb. A similar comb is held by a mermaid in fol. 70v.Ivory double comb with lovers in a garden, Paris, second quarter of the 14th centuryV&A Access to Images and search for Museum Number A.560-1910 .
Ivory double-comb carved with the Adoration of the Magi and Annunciation , upper Italy, second half of the 14th century
Ivory comb with dancers (?) at a fountain, northern Italian, late 14th century or early 15th centuryV&A Access to Images and search for Museum Number 151-1879 .
Susannah and the elders , Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 159, fol. 238), 14th-15th centuryA woman combs her hair in a pen-and-ink sketch c. 1400Ivory comb with scenes from legends (a joust on one side, two ladies on the other), France, beginning of the 15th centuryIncomplete double-sided one-piece comb of elephant ivory found in York dating to the 15th century15th century birchwood comb 15th century boxwood comb inscribed "mon avis" and "pour bien"15th century French wooden comb , from A Brief Description of Some Medieval French Woodworking at the Muse National du Moyen Age Comb in carved wood, 15th century Germany (also here )Ivory comb with the adoration of the Magi, 15th century Wooden liturgical comb , 15th centuryGroadain wounds Gawain's horse (BNF Fr. 112(1) , fol. 107), 15th century: A two-sided ivory (?) comb is used on a woman's hair.Comb , 15th century walrus or morse ivory, FrenchHagiography shows mirrors to Pilgrim , Pilgrimage of the Life of Man (British Library MS Cotton Tiberius A. VII, fol. 93), c. 1430-1450Ivory comb with painted carvings (the Fountain of Youth) , Upper Rhine, c. 1450 (V&A 231-1867 ).Ivory comb with the Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi , southern Netherlandish (?), c. 1450Late 15th century boxwood comb Detail from St. Elizabeth of Thuringia bathing the lepers in the Elizabeth Altarpiece from the Church of St. Agidius at Bardejov, c. 1480-1500Wooden comb , 15th-16th centuryTwo wooden combs carved from boxwood (one with ivory[?] inlays), northern France, c. 1500; more photos here and here Ivory comb with the story of Bathsheba on one side and the Knight and the Three Graces on the other, Germany, beginning of the 16th centuryIvory comb with carved openwork with small figures and a bust between medallions, grotesques, and gryphons; France, beginning of the 16th centuryIvory comb with scenes from the story of David and Goliath, 16th centuryOneida Iroquois antler comb , c. 1500-1550The Comb-Maker , Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auf Erden , 1568Martha and Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio, c. 1598Portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton , c. 1600
Sites where one can purchase medieval-style combs of different styles:
