Plaques with Scenes from the Story of Joshua

900–1000

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 300

These panels are from a casket that illustrated Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land and carry paraphrasings of texts from the Book of Joshua. The first narrative panel, designed to fit a lock plate, shows the capture of the city of Ai and is inscribed, “And Joshua stretched out his hand toward the city and they rose up quickly and they slew all” (Joshua 8:18–19). The second panel shows the captive king of Ai, first bent in submission before Joshua and then, at the far right, hanged on a forked stake. The inscription reads, “And they brought the King of Ai to Joshua and they hanged him” (8:23, 29). The third panel, showing emissaries from the Gibeonites approaching Joshua, has the inscription, “The Gibeonites displaying their torn clothes” (9:13). Joshua’s story was often invoked in the middle Byzantine period, when Byzantines identified themselves with God’s chosen people, likening their own military victories and defeats to those of the ancient Hebrews.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: Plaques with Scenes from the Story of Joshua
Date: 900–1000
Geography: Made in Constantinople
Culture: Byzantine
Medium: Ivory, traces of polychromy, gilding; bone (border strips)
Dimensions: 17.190.135a–c: a: 2 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 1/4 in. (6.3 x 9 x 0.6 cm); b: 1 1/16 x 3 9/16 x 1/16 in. (2.7 x 9.1 x 0.2 cm); c: 3 5/8 x 1 x 1/16 in. (9.2 x 2.6 x 0.2 cm)
17.190.136a–c: a: 2 9/16 x 3 7/16 x 1/4 in. (6.5 x 8.7 x 0.6 cm); b: 3 9/16 x 1 x 1/16 in. (9 x 2.5 x 0.2 cm); c: 1 x 3 1/2 x 1/16 in. (2.6 x 8.9 x 0.2 cm)
17.190.137a–c: a: 2 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 1/4 in. (6.3 x 9 x 0.6 cm); b: 1 1/16 x 3 9/16 x 1/16 in. (2.7 x 9.1 x 0.2 cm); c: 3 5/8 x 1 x 1/16 in. (9.2 x 2.6 x 0.2 cm)
Classification: Bone
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.135a-d, .136a-c, .137a-c
Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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