Like the late antique Nubian boxes in the previous gallery, Byzantine ivory boxes were carved with playful scenes and a diverse cast of characters. Childlike figures tending to animals, performing battles, or dancing adorn this box. At least three depicted appear to be Black Africans with tightly curled hair. The ivory for this box likely made its way to Constantinople through a trade port in Alexandria, Egypt. Indian Ocean and Red Sea trade routes were Byzantium’s primary networks for ivories, which were sourced from Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and India.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Casket with Warriors and Dancers
Date:11th century
Geography:Made in Constantinople
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Elephant ivory and bone; gilded copper mounts
Dimensions:8 x 11 3/8 x 7 1/2 in. (20.3 x 28.9 x 19.1 cm)
Classifications:Ivories-Bone, Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.239
Georges Hoentschel (French)(sold 1911); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1911–until 1917)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 12–May 10, 1970.
Bell Gallery, List Art Center, Brown University. "Survival of the Gods: Classical Mythology in Medieval Art," February 28–March 29, 1987.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Glory of Byzantium," March 11–July 6, 1997.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Africa & Byzantium," November 13, 2023–March 3, 2024.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Africa & Byzantium," April 14–July 21, 2024.
Nye, Phila Calder. "The Oblong Caskets of the Byzantine Period." American Journal of Archaeology 23, no. 4 (October–December 1919). pp. 404, 407–8, fig. 6.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 22, fig. 23, ill. p. 46.
Harrington, John Walker. "Antique Caskets and Coffers." International Studio 86 (April 1927). p. 43, ill.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 22, fig. 23, ill. p. 46.
Goldschmidt, Adolph, and Kurt Weitzmann. Die Byzantinischen Elfenbeinskulpturen des X.-XIII. Jahrhunderts. Vol. 1. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1930. no. 49a–e, pp. 17, 42, fig. 49a–e, pl. XXIX–XXX.
Wagner de Kertesz, Margarita. Historia Universal de las Joyas. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Centurion, 1947. p. 254.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 14.
Hoffmann, Konrad, ed. The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970. no. 77, pp. 69–70.
Cutler, Anthony. "On Byzantine Boxes." The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 42/43 (1984–85). pp. 41, 44–46, fig. 17, 21.
Herman, Kerry B. "Exemplum Virtutis: The Noble Heroes and Heroines of the Middle Ages." In Survival of the Gods: Classical Mythology in Medieval Art. Providence, R.I.: Brown University, 1987. pp. 21–22, fig. 15.
Connor, Carolyn L. "New Perspectives on Byzantine Ivories." Gesta 30, no. 2 (1991). pp. 102–03, fig. 5.
Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom, ed. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. no. 156, pp. 44, 233, 256, 443.
Connor, Carolyn L. The Color of Ivory: Polychromy on Byzantine Ivories. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998. p. 84.
Cutler, Anthony. "On Byzantine Boxes." In Late Antique and Byzantine Ivory Carving. Variorum Collected Studies Series. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998. pp. 41, 45, fig. 17, 21, [reprint of Cutler 1984–85].
Hanson, John. "The Stuttgart Casket and the Permeability of the Byzantine Artistic Tradition." Gesta 37, no. 1 (1998). pp. 13, 16, fig. 7.
Evans, Helen C., Melanie Holcomb, and Robert Hallman. "The Arts of Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 58, no. 4 (Spring 2001). p. 53.
Papanikola-Bakirtzi, Demetra, ed. Everyday Life in Byzantium. Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Directorate of Byzantine and Post Byzantine Monuments, 2002. no. 628, pp. 459–60.
Stein, Wendy A. How to Read Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. no. 34, pp. 16, 120–21.
Ciseri, Ilaria, ed. Gli avori del Museo nazionale del Bargello. Milan: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, 2018. p. 80.
Achi, Andrea. Africa and Byzantium. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023. fig. 81, pp. 122–123.
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