Ivory Icons


Constantinople was the foremost Center of Commerce and trade throughout the whole of Europe, until the 13th century when competitive centers on the Italian Peninsula ascended to rival the bustling trade city. The riches found and brought by Africa, The Middle East, and Asia were brought for distribution and trade through the city's various warehouses. One of the largest and most sought after items of trade was in the ivory market. The majority of ivory came from Egypt and sources in East Africa. Ivory is a very versatile and durable material that is not only easy to carve and sculpt into whatever statue you want. Ivory also doesn’t warp and, if that isn’t enough to tickle your fancy, it also isn’t very prone to breakages, such as would be a problem with a lot of woods and other materials. Some of the main art pieces that came of the times were consular diptychs, pyxides, icons (such as diptychs or triptychs), and finally caskets made for secular or religious purposes.




Byzantine Ivory icon with Crucifixion, mid-10th century, Constantinople

        One such diptych carving depicts the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, specifically depicting the story of Jesus conquering death. It shows Jesus as he hung lifeless and exhausted, arms bent at the elbow, knees buckled, head hung low to his collarbone, and hips forward while three guards below him separated his seamless clothing. This specific Byzantine carving was made during the time of the Iconoclasm, which was a time where folks thought that having carving and paintings of Jesus and other religious figures went against the very idea of Christianity. So, political figures and other folks decided to burn anything that had a religious depiction on it. Thankfully, more people were in favor of keeping these icons as they were known so that historians of this day and age were able to have an accurate representation of what happened back then. The fact that such a piece of this sort survived is astounding knowing that even the smallest items were tossed into a fire and burned out of existence for being merely what they are. In a very personal way, I am so glad that this piece of history survived all of the trials and tribulations for the sheer fact that historians can piece together such a crucial part of history for us to see and not have to repeat.

2020. Metmuseum.Org. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464428.

Comments

  1. A lexSeptember 22, 2020 at 6:24 PM

    I noticed that artwork you selected is made of ivory. I wrote mine on a small religious artifact made from ivory and the book details a triptych carved from ivory. This time period is also the only one I remember having ivory so far, I wonder what this could mean for the trade and relationships between regions in the state of the world. Something to look into eventually perhaps.

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