active: by 1618 - until at least 1664 Coburg, Germany
ivory turner; sculptor
German

First recorded as an ivory turner and "master of fireworks and firearms" at the court of the Saxon duke of Coburg, Marcus Heiden remains a shadowy figure. Heiden produced his ivories for a number of German princes, who both admired his creations and attempted turning themselves. Most of scholars' knowledge of Heiden comes from a small book that he wrote in 1640, dedicated to the duke, which describes one of his ivory objects. From the pages emerges a profoundly religious and simple man, an impression corroborated by two entries at the end of the book written by his friends: a pastor and a rector both confirm his skill as a turner and his great piety.

Heiden's ivory objects were so admired that they were plundered during the sack of Coburg in 1632. The commander of the Medici army coveted their fragile and intricate forms as spoils of war and spirited them off to Italy. They were placed in the Florentine treasure house of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, today called the Museo degli Argenti (Museum of Silver Objects).