Justinian, who would be the greatest emperor of the early Byzantine period, presented this handsome ivory panel (one of two forming a diptych, see acc. no. 17.190.52) to a member of the Roman Senate announcing his election as consul. The title, now largely honorific, was once that of supreme magistrate of the Roman Republic. Once hinged together with the names of the other consuls inscribed in wax on the interior, the panels were probably presented as an invitation to the great public games that new consuls hosted in Constantinople’s hippodrome (stadium). The elegantly carved classical motifs focused attention on the inscriptions written in Latin, still the official language of the Empire.
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Title:Panel of a Diptych Announcing the Consulship of Justinian
Date:521
Geography:Made in Constantinople
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Ivory
Dimensions:Overall: 13 7/8 x 5 3/8 x 3/8 in. (35.2 x 13.7 x 1 cm)
Classification:Ivories
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.53
Inscription: (Across the top): + COM[ES] MAG[ISTER] EQQ[UITUM] [EQUITUM] ET P[EDITUM] PRAES[ENTALIS] ET C[ONSUL] ORD[INARIUS] ([image of cross] Official, Chief of the Cavalry and of the infantry and Consul normally elected in present times)
(In the central medallion): + / PATRIBVS . IS / TA . MEIS . OFFERO / CONS[UL] . EGO / + ([image of cross] I [as] consul offer these [things] to my senators [image of cross])
(Continuous across top): + FL[AVIUS] . PETRUS . SABBAT[IUS] . IUSTIN[IANUS] . V[IR] I[N]L[USTRIS] . / + COM[ES] MAG[ISTER] EQQ[UITUM] ET P[EDITUM] PRAES[ENTALIS] ET C[ONSUL] . ORD[INARIUS] ([image of cross] Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justianus, noble man, / [image of cross] Official, Chief of the cavalry and of the infantry and Consul normally elected in present times)
(Continuous in the central medallions): + / MUNERA . PAR / VA . QUIDEM . PRE / TIO . SED HONO / RIBUS ALMA / + / + / PATRIBVS . IS / TA . MEIS . OFFERO / CONS[UL] . EGO / + ([image of cross] [image of cross] / [image of cross] I [as] Consul offer these gifts, slight indeed in value but rich in honors, to my senators [image of cross])
Aymard, Le Puy; Sigismond Bardac, Paris; [ Jacques Seligmann, Paris (sold 1909)]; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1909–1913)
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris. "Exposition universelle de 1900. L'exposition retrospective de l'art francais," April 14–November 12, 1900.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Early Christian and Byzantine art, an exhibition held at the Baltimore Museum of Art," April 25–June 22, 1947.
Onassis Cultural Center, New York. "Transition to Christianity: Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd-7th century AD," December 6, 2011–May 14, 2012.
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Marcou, Paul Frantz. "L'exposition rétrospective de l'art français: Les ivoires." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 3rd ser., 23, no. 6 (June 1900). p. 481, ill.
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Migeon, Gaston. L'exposition rétrospective de l'art décoratif français. Vol. I. Paris: Goupil & Co., [1901]. pp. 1–2.
Maskell, Alfred. Ivories. London: Methuen & Co., 1905. pp. 65, 79, pl. V, no. 4.
Kunz, George F. Ivory and the Elephant in Art, in Archaeology, and in Science. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1916. pp. 30, 72.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Consular Diptychs and Christian Ivories." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 13, no. 8 (August 1918). pp. 171–73.
Breck, Joseph. "Pre-Gothic Ivories in the Pierpont Morgan Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 15, no. 1 (January 1920). pp. 13–14.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. pp. 22, 44, fig. 8, ill. p. 19.
Dalton, O. M. East Christian Art: A Survey of the Monuments. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925. p. 211.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. pp. 22, 44, fig. 8, ill. p. 19.
Miner, Dorothy, ed. Early Christian and Byzantine Art: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 1947. no. 101, p. 39.
Byzantine Art, a[n] European Art. Catalogue of the Ninth Exhibition of the Council of Europe. Athens: Zappeion Exhibition Hall, 1964. p. 149.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 26, no. 5 (January 1968). no. 13, p. 203.
Beeson, Nora B., ed. Guide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. no. 21, pp. 214–15.
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. 50, pp. 51–52.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983. no. 10, p. 341.
Shepard, Mary B. Europe in the Middle Ages, edited by Charles T. Little, and Timothy B. Husband. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. pp. 7, 28, pl. 15.
Durand, Jannic, ed. Byzance: L'Art Byzantin dans les Collections Publiques Françaises. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1992. p. 58.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994. no. 10, p. 375.
Connor, Carolyn L. The Color of Ivory: Polychromy on Byzantine Ivories. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998. p. 84.
Cutler, Anthony. "The Making of the Justinian Diptychs." In Late Antique and Byzantine Ivory Carving. Variorum Collected Studies Series. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998. pp. 75–115, fig. 1, 4, 9–11.
Eisenberg, Jerome M. "The New Byzantine Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Minerva 12, no. 3 (2001). pp. 24–25, fig. 5.
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David, Massimiliano. "Elementi per una Storia della Produzione dei Dittici Eburnei." In Eburnea Diptycha: i Dittici d'Avorio tra Antichità e Medioevo, edited by Massimiliano David. Bari: Edipuglia, 2007. pp. 24–26, fig. 28j.
Sartori, Antonio. "Eburnea Verba." In Eburnea Diptycha: i Dittici d'Avorio tra Antichità e Medioevo, edited by Massimiliano David. Bari: Edipuglia, 2007. pp. 231, 242, fig. 4.
Lazaridou, Anastasia, ed. Transition to Christianity: Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd-7th Century AD. New York: Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA), Inc., 2012. no. 40, p. 100.
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