Panel with Wheat Sheaves

4th–6th century

Not on view

This panel, made from either bone or ivory, is carved in low relief with an almost symmetrical vegetal composition surrounded by a narrow frame. The bifurcated central stalk of this palmate form, long identified as a wheat-sheave, begins just above the center of the panel's lower margin. On either side of the base of the stalk sprouts pairs of leaves, and a dominant pair of fronds sprout directly from the bifurcated central stem and culminate in elongated leaves that extend to the upper corners of the frame. In late antique Egypt and throughout the Mediterranean regions of the late Roman Empire, bone and ivory panels like this decorated domestic furnishings, including couches, tables, and boxes.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Title: Panel with Wheat Sheaves
Date: 4th–6th century
Geography: Made in Egypt
Culture: Late Roman/Early Byzantine
Medium: Bone
Dimensions: 3 1/4 × 3/16 in. (8.2 × 0.4 cm)
Classification: Ivories-Bone
Credit Line: Bequest of Nanette B. Kelekian, 2020
Object Number: 2021.37.1
Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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