Carolingian Ivory Plaque with Christ Enthroned with Two Apostles in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2010

Plaque with Christ enthroned with two Apostles,850–875


Object Details

Date: 850–875

Geography: Made in northern France

Culture: Carolingian

Medium: Ivory

Dimensions: Overall: 5 11/16 x 3 7/16 x 3/16 in. (14.5 x 8.8 x 0.5 cm)

Classification: Ivories

Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917

Accession Number: 17.190.41


These carvings—one showing the Virgin and the Infant Jesus, the other showing Christ flanked by Saints Peter and Paul—reuse ivory plaques that might have once served as furniture mounts. The plaques, originally carved in Egypt one hundred years earlier, depict on their backs a tree flanked by birds and Hercules capturing the Golden Stag of Artemis. The recarving of pagan ivories with Christian subjects, probably to adorn a Gospel book, occurred in a workshop associated with the emperor Charles the Bald (r. 840–77), the grandson of Charlemagne. The reuse of ancient ivory plaques, not unusual in the 800s, was due to the rarity of African elephant ivory in Europe.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464395