ANCIENT CARVED IVORIES 33 



Museum, London, where it now reposes. It seems unfortu- 

 nate that the two leaves of this most interesting and valuable 

 memento of the past cannot be reunited. 



These beautiful diptych leaves, while probably executed 

 in Rome at the end of the fourth century A. D., have been 

 apparently inspired by Greek sculpture of the fourth cen- 

 tury B.C., perhaps that of some Greek stele set up in Rome, 

 and which could be there seen and studied by the carver 

 of the diptych.* 



Among the treasures of the Kunsthistorische Sammlungen 

 in Vienna may be seen a diptych of the fifth century, on 

 either leaf of which appear allegorical figures denoting 

 respectively Rome and Constantinople, the Western and 

 the Eastern Empires. The genius of Rome is helmeted like 

 a Minerva and holds in one hand a sphere surmounted by a 

 Victory; for Constantinople the artist has chosen a figure 

 of Fortune (Tyche), on her head is a mural crown and in 

 her hands she bears palm branch and cornucopia; to her 

 shoulder clings the child Eros.f 



In the very earliest Christian age there were ivory diptychs 

 inscribed with the names of those who had been baptized, 

 thus constituting a partial parish register; upon others again 

 were carved the names of the bishops of the churches and 

 of great benefactors. Still others bore the names of the 

 saints and martyrs, and, finally, there was a fourth class 

 devoted exclusively to the registration of the dead who had 

 passed away after due reception of the last sacraments. Of 

 ivory is one of the most precious relics of the church in the 

 sixth century- — namely, the throne of Maximian, Archbishop 

 of Ravenna (546-556). This cathedra is high-backed and 

 adorned with a series of ivory plaques carved in relief with 



*0. M. Dalton, "Byzantine Art and Archaeology," Oxford, 1911, pp. 190, 191. 

 t" Uebersicht der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des AUerhochsten Kaiserhauses," 

 Wien. 1899, p. 118 (Hall XIV, Case XXI). 



