Ornament for a Book Cover: An Evangelist
Artist/Culture
German
Date1100s
Mediumivory
Dimensions5.7 x 4.4 cm (2 1/4 x 1 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsIvories
Credit LineAustin S. and Sarah C. Garver Fund
Terms
Object number1949.26
DescriptionHalf-length figure of bearded man with book in proper left hand and proper right hand raised; placed beneath the arch of a crenellated wall.Label TextGospel books, recording the word of God, were bound with covers of great magnificence. This small ivory respresenting one of the four evangelists was originally mounted in the corner of a large cover. The three other evangelists a well as the large crucifixion plaque which they surrounded also survive and are in the collection of the British Museum. The saint is shown in the gesture of blessing surrounded by the gates of a city, a pictorial motif of great longevity in Byzantine art. While the round face and square-cut masses of hair are derived from earlier ivories Byzantine in origin, this piece because of its stylistic provenance is attributed to the Rhenish school.ProvenanceAuktion Heberle, Cologne, July 9, 1885, no. 442; Stroganoff Collection, Rome; Adolph Loewi, Venice, by 1946; sold to the Brummer Gallery, New York, May 23, 1946 [object inventory card no. N6605]; purchased by the Worcester Art Museum from Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, Joseph Brummer Collection sale, part I, April 23, 1949, no. 641.
On View
On viewCurrent Location
- Exhibition Location Gallery 111
