Early images of religious figures are often difficult to identify. The book the man holds may mean that he is an evangelist, one of the authors of the four Gospels. His round face, short, curly beard, and balding head are typical for depictions of Saint Peter, but the lack of keys, which become a standard attribute of the saint, makes that identification uncertain. The nail holes on the edges of the ivory suggest that it may have been one of the many Byzantine ivories used to decorate the covers of religious texts when these were later taken to the West.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Panel with St. Peter or St. Paul (?)
Date:500s
Geography:Made in Byzantine Egypt
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Elephant ivory
Dimensions:Overall: 9 1/8 x 4 1/8 x 5/16 in. (23.1 x 10.5 x 0.8 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Gift of George Blumenthal, 1941
Object Number:41.100.156
Abbey of Mettlach, Saar; John-François Boch, Mettlach (April 1809–1832); Anton Eugen von Boch, Mettlach (from 1832); [ Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., Inc., New York (sold May 8, 1928)]; George and Florence Blumenthal, Paris and New York (from 1928–1941)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces from the George Blumenthal Collection," December 8, 1943–?
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Early Christian and Byzantine art, an exhibition held at the Baltimore Museum of Art," April 25–June 22, 1947.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 18, 1970–March 29, 1970.
Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 16, 1970–July 5, 1970.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century," November 19, 1977–February 12, 1978.
Volbach, Wolfgang Fritz. Elfenbeinartbeiten der spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters. Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, Vol. 7. Mainz: Leonie von Wilckens, 1916. no. 75, p. 63, pl. 6a.
Burlington Fine Arts Club. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Carvings in Ivory. London, 1923. p. 37.
Miner, Dorothy, ed. Early Christian and Byzantine Art: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 1947. no. 102, p. 40, pl. XIV.
Weitzmann, Kurt. "Byzantine Art and Scholarship in America." American Journal of Archaeology, 2nd series, 51, no. 4 (1947). p. 403, pl. CII–B.
Hoving, Thomas. "The Sources of the Ivories of the Ada School." PhD diss., Princeton University, 1960. pp. 84, 85, fig. 41.
Ostoia, Vera K. The Middle Ages: Treasures from the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. no. 15, pp. 42–3, 253.
Beeson, Nora B., ed. Guide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. no. 7, p. 211.
Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979. no. 487, pp. 542–43.
Durand, Jannic, ed. Byzance: L'Art Byzantin dans les Collections Publiques Françaises. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1992. pp. 73, 76.
Fillitz, Hermann. Bernward von Hildesheim und das Zeitalter der Ottonen: Katalog der Ausstellung, Hildesheim, edited by Michael Brandt, and Arne Eggebrecht. Vol. 2. Hildesheim and Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 1993. no. IV–37, pp. 194–95.
Connor, Carolyn L. The Color of Ivory: Polychromy on Byzantine Ivories. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998. p. 84.
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