Byzantine
Ivory panel with Archangel Byzantine panel with archangel, Ivory leaf from diptych, c. 525-50, 16.8 x 5.6 x 0.35 in. (42.8 x 14.3 x 0.9 cm), probably from Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey), (British Museum, London) The British Museum translates the text at the top of the panel as: "Receive the suppliant before you, despite his sinfulness." Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker http://www.smarthistory.org/ivory-panel-with-archangel.html
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- We are in the British Museum
- looking at a large ivory panel
- usually ivories are very
- small.
- This is huge and apparently it's actually
- one-half of a diptych, whats interesteing is that
- even though it is in the British Museum it is
- originally comes from Constantinople so this is a Byzantine object
- It looks like the other half of the diptych
- would have been on the left side
- the angel who is in this ivory, let me just say this
- the ivory is probably about 18 inches?
- Yeah, I would say so. Probably about 5 and a half or six.
- Right, the other panel would have been on the left
- and the Archangel would have been looking
- in the direction of what would have been the other
- figure in the other panel.
- And you can further tell that the panel would have been on the left because you can actually see
- through the holes that would have been functioning as part of the hinge.
- Right, and the deptic of course
- means the work of art made out of two panels as opposed to a triptych
- which is three panels.
- We can assume that there would have been another saint on the other side
- another Angel perhaps.
- Another angel or, perhaps the Angel giving this
- orb to a king or an emperor.
- So we see Greek text up at the top and below that we see this incredibly ornate arch
- with a cross above that and the cross is surmounting an orb
- there seems to be almost kind of a sunburst
- behind it, very decorative beautiful carving of a kind of
- ribbon or banner just below the reef and then some
- broad open areas under some dentals these are just Architectural elements
- we see Corinthian pilasters framing the figure.
- It actually reminded me of an apse in a church with a archway behind
- those columns and may be perhaps the kind of recessed space.
- Even though this is carved in such a shallow relief carving
- it's so flat
- You do get the sense of real architectural space there
- and then the figure himself is so interesting
- because it's so classicizing in some ways
- This is though very much a byzantine rendering, look at the
- size of the archangel in relationship, for instance, to the staircase.
- He is very large so to me, yes he very much takes up
- that also faces of kind of hierarchy of scale
- so that his size matters his divine nature.
- So this is interesting because this is
- very classicizing, look at the drapery
- Yeah, it's very classical
- he wears even up against the wings of, you know he is an Angel
- he is an Archangel and...
- but he has this classical toga on.
- Yes, and it's actually getting fairly late
- to see that kind of synthesis, right?
- Even his hair, the curls in his hair look like a Roman sculture
- It's true, if you stripped away the wings
- if you stripped away the cross and the orb
- you could be looking at a kind of a roman potrait.
- The detail here in the carving is remarkable
- the lines that make up each of the feathers
- in the angel's wings or the little
- circular swirling decorations in his cuff,
- the delicacy of his hand as he holds the staff
- the other hand holding the orb with the cross on it
- the symbol of power but we know that
- we are not in the classical world anymore
- the way that I know that is by
- not only his size in relationship to the Architecture
- but when I look down at his feet.
- Aah, how so?
- You know, he doesnt
- really stand on the ground, his feet sort of flatted out
- and hang over the stairs
- he doesn't really make contact with the ground in a meaningful way
- and that suggests to me a kind of weightlessness
- a kind of spirituality that reminds me of byzantine and
- medieval art.
- The handling of the body, which by the way really
- is transparent behind the cloth
- you know the body really does swell that cloth
- it's not that later medieval rejection of the body below
- but this is still coming out of the classical
- Look at his toes.
- They are great toes!
- Aren't they?
- They are great.
- I mean this is such a strange combination
- of the spiritual and the human that is
- a very funny moment in early christian and byzantine art
- There is a kind of awkwardness
- with the synthesis it hasn't been worked out yet
- It really is a clash of traditions
- of Pagan and Christian
- Absolutely.
Be specific, and indicate a time in the video:
At 5:31, how is the moon large enough to block the sun? Isn't the sun way larger?
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