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Date : approx. between 900 and 1000
Material : Ivory
Acquisition : Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan (1917)
| Item 22 on 80
Objet(s) d'Art
Object of worship
Vitrine : V02 (Ref. 2720)
Area related
Constantinople (Turkey)
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| Description |  |
On the lid if the casket is a Deesis composition showing Christ enthroned in majesty flanked by Virgin, John the Baptist, and Archangels.
In the Deesis Christ appears in glory between the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. Traditionally the first witnesses to Christ's divinity, the Virgin and Saint John came to be seen as intercessors with Christ on behalf of humanity.
Roundels containing portraits of saints, identified by carefully carved Greek inscriptions, decorate sides of the casket : Saints Paul, Peter, James and Andrew on the front, Bartholomew and Simon on the left, John, Mark, Luke and Matthew on the back and Phillip and Thomas on the right. Conservators have returned the casket to its originally Byzantine condition by removing a lock plate and the red and blue paint that had been added by later owners.
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