36 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



sentation of Bacchus seated in a car drawn by Centaurs; 

 the other leaf depicts Diana in a chariot drawn by two 

 bulls. The manuscript enclosed by these covers is an 

 example of the so-called "OflSce of Fools," a semi-travesty 

 of a religious service, tolerated by the Catholic Church on 

 the Feast of the Circumcision, which falls on New Year's 

 Day. Doubtless the pagan designs were expressly chosen 

 as covers for this popular ritual, one of the concessions 

 made by the Church, perhaps not unwisely, to the fondness 

 of the common people for a frolic on the first day of a new 

 year, although such an observance would be regarded to- 

 day, when the religious and secular aspects of life are so 

 sharply distinguished, as a profanation of holy things. 



The great Christian church of Santa Sophia, turned into 

 a Mohammedan mosque since the fall of Constantinople in 

 1453, was enriched with six ivory doors especially com- 

 manded for its embellishment by its founder. Emperor 

 Justinian. An old record says that the ivory was elaborately 

 sculptured and the effect enhanced by gold ornaments.* 

 As there can be no doubt that the ivory panels adorned 

 with figured representations of religious subjects were 

 quickly removed and almost certainly destroyed by the 

 Mohammedan conquerors, there is little reason for surprise 

 that no trace of them remains. Perhaps the present 

 year is destined to be noted in future history as that in 

 which this wonderful historic monument, the peerless 

 Santa Sophia, shall have been restored to Christian worship. 



There is evidence that work in ivory was extensively 

 done in the early Christian centvu'ies, for among other 

 artists or artisans granted especial exemption by law 

 from certain municipal obligations are noted "the ivory 

 workers (eborarii) who make seats, beds, etc., of ivory." 



*See Ridulfus de Diceto, iu Stubbs's "Rerum Brittanicarum scriptores," Vol. 71, Pt. 

 1, p. 93. 



