Barberini ivory
The Barberini ivory is a Byzantine ivory leaf from an imperial diptych dating from Late Antiquity, now in the Louvre in Paris. It represents the emperor as triumphant victor. It is generally dated from the first half of the 6th century and is attributed to an imperial workshop in Constantinople, while the emperor is usually identified as Justinian, or possibly Anastasius I or Zeno. It is a notable historical document because it is linked to queen Brunhilda of Austrasia. On the back there is a list of names of Frankish kings, all relatives of Brunhilda, indicating her important position. Brunhilda ordered the list to be inscribed and offered it to the church as a votive image.
Although it is not a consular diptych, it shares many features of their decorative schemes. The emperor is accompanied in the main panel by a conquered barbarian in trousers at left, a crouching allegorical figure, probably representing territory conquered or reconquered, who holds his foot in thanks or submission, and an angel or victory, crowning the emperor with the traditional palm of victory. Although the barbarian is partly hidden by the emperor's huge spear, this does not pierce him, and he seems more astonished and over-awed than combative. Above, Christ, with a fashionable curled hair-style, is flanked by two more angels in the style of pagan victory figures; he reigns above, while the emperor represents him below on earth. In the bottom panel barbarians from West and East bring tribute, which includes wild animals. The figure in the left panel, representing a soldier, carries a statuette of Victory; his counterpart on the right is lost.
Design
It was originally made up of five rectangular plaques, although that on the right has been replaced by a board bearing the inscription CONSTANT. N. IMP. CONST. The plaques are fitted together by tongue and groove joints, around a larger central plaque. Overall, the piece is the only such secular object to survive in such good condition. It measures high by wide overall, with the central panel high by wide by deep. It is made from elephant ivory, sculpted and mounted with precious stones. It carries no traces of polychromy, contrary to what certain historians have supposed.It is not certain that the Barberini ivory belonged to a diptych, that is that there was a second set of plaques forming a second leaf with another portrait, perhaps of the empress – this first leaf is already too heavy to be comfortably used as a real writing tablet, and there is not trace of a hinge that could indicate it was a bookcover.
Owners
The reverse of the object is flat and smooth, without the depression for wax which would be found on a consular diptych, which would be used as a writing tablet. Nevertheless, it is streaked with lines engraved later over older ink inscriptions – it includes a list of names, among whom can be seen the kings of Austrasia and other names, mostly Latin ones. Onomastics shows that the list comes from Auvergne and not from Provence as has been thought from the location of the object in the modern era. The inscriptions also date to the 7th century and show that the work was brought to Gaul early in its existence.The ivory's history between then and 1625 is unknown – in that year it was offered by the leading antiquary Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc to the Papal legate Cardinal Francesco Barberini in Aix-en-Provence, becoming part of the Barberini collection in Rome. Peiresc mentions it specifically in a letter to his friend Palamède de Vallavez, dated 29 October 1625:
... was pleased to see an ancient ivory bas-relief which I recovered a little earlier, where is represented the emperor Heraclius on horseback, with borders bearing a cross and his son Constantine carrying a Victory and many captive provinces beneath his feet, like that of the Grand 'Camayeul' of Tiberius. I gave it to him as he left he had several similar pieces in the same manner in ivory, with which would go well.
We can very probably find confirmation of it being in the Barberini collection through a mention of an ivory representing Constantine in the inventory of sculptures in the possession of Francesco Barberini between 1626 and 1631.
It was acquired by the Louvre in 1899 and has since then been in the département des objets d'art.
Iconography
The work combines on the one hand a classic theme of the total power of the victorious emperor, crowned by Victory, whose universal rule is synonymous with peace and prosperity, and on the other hand the theme of Christian victory brought by Christ's patronage and blessing of the emperor. It introduces a new cosmic hierarchy into the representation of the triumph of the Roman Empire and is thus a highly political work designed to serve as imperial propaganda. The quality of the workmanship allows it to be attributed to an imperial workshop in Constantinople.Central panel
The composition is arranged around a central plaque which dominates it by its motif as much as by its stylistic quality. The sculpted motif is a triumphant figure of an emperor on a rearing horse. In his right hand the emperor holds the butt of a lance, the other end pointed towards the ground, and in his left he holds his horse's reins. Behind the lance is the figure of a barbarian, identified as such by his hair, his bushy beard and above all by his clothes - his curved cap, indicating an eastern origin, a long-sleeved tunic and baggy trousers. Symbolising a Persian or a Scythian, he may represent the peoples defeated by the emperor – as a sign of submission he touches the lance with his right hand and raises his left hand - or be "cheering", perhaps a member of an auxiliary unit. Ernst Kitzinger noted as "remarkable... the amount of lively activity with which the central relief is packed", in contrast to the static figures at the centre of most diptychs. In his interpretation "The emperor has arrived on his charger this instant, his mantle still flying in the wind. It almost appears as though he had just passed through a low city gate which had caused him to tilt his head. He pulls in his reins and makes a rapid half-turn as he rams his spear into the ground to use it as a support in dismounting.... In all Roman art there is no more spirited portrayal of an imperial adventus."In the lower right corner, under the horse, a woman lies on the ground. Her robe has slipped, revealing her right breast, and in her left hand she holds a fold of her robe containing fruits, symbols of prosperity. Her right hand is raised to the emperor's right foot in a gesture of submission. She personifies Earth, representing the emperor's universal domination and with the fruits symbolising the prosperity of his reign. This personification was often presented in this role on images of the triumphant emperor or the emperor in majesty, as for example on the missorium of Theodosius and on the relief of the pietas augustorum on the arch of Galerius These personifications of Tellus/Gaia are generally recognisable by their principal attribute of a cornucopia – this is not actually present on the ivory, but the fruit-filled fold in the woman's robe is of the same form and fulfils the same symbolic function.
Image:Solidus Constantine II-heraclea RIC vII 101.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Solidus of Constantine II, minted in Heraclea between 326 and 330.
Counterbalancing this first female figure, in the top right hand corner of the central panel, is a statuette of a winged Victory standing over a globe inscribed with the sign of the cross, holding a palm in her left hand and in her right hand she almost certainly held a crown to be placed on the emperor's head. This type of statuette personification is also one of the links to the iconography of the triumphant emperor, found on several coins but also in sculpture and on some consular diptychs.
The emperor has a bowl or archivolt haircut, of the sort where the fringe describes an arched circle around his face, similar to that worn by Constantine, and wears a crown studded with pearls, of which four survive. His facial features are oval in form and quite heavy, notably the eyelids and the nose, but give a cheerful character to the imperial portrait. The emperor wears the military uniform of commander in chief, the role in which he is portrayed – under his cuirass he wears a short tunic and over the cuirass a cloak, of which a fold flies behind him and which is held onto his shoulder by a round fibula. The fibula was originally made of precious stone, like the cuirass. He wears cross-laced boots, ornamented with a lion's head. The horse's harness is decorated with a series of medallions dripping in inlays, now lost apart from the one in the centre of its head.
The relief of this central motif was particularly accentuated – the Victory, the lance, and to a lesser extent the heads of the emperor and of his horse are all sculpted very nearly in the round. The care taken in modelling the drapery and in the rendering of certain anatomical details, such as the muscles of the emperor's arm, may qualify it as classicising. These characteristics, added to the disproportionate scale of the figures, underline the majesty of the imperial person, recalling Theodosian art.
Side panels
The side panels are in less-elevated relief, and are stylistically slightly less virtuosic than the central panel. They bear borders inscribed in a simplified zig-zag pattern, leaving room in the border around the central panel for a garland of stylised leaves with a small round hole on the middle of each side for four now-lost inlays.Image:Diptych Barberini Louvre OA9063 34 view.JPG|thumb|200px|3/4 view, underlining the different depths of relief on the Barberini ivory.
The left hand panel represents a superior officer, recognisably by his military clothing and equipment, comparable to those of the emperor. Bearded, he wears a cuirass and the paludamentum, fixed to his right shoulder by a simpler fibula than that worn by the emperor. We can distinguish the scabbard of his sword fixed to his belt, worn on the left side. He advances towards the emperor and presents him with a statuette of Victory on a pedestal - she hold a crown and a palm, like the Victory on the central panel. At his feet is a bag. The man stands in an architectural scheme formed of two columns supporting Corinthian capitals and of a tessellated pattern evoking a room in an imperial palace.
This figure is sometimes interpreted as a consul, and the statuette of Victory and the bag as consular attributes. However, the figure may also represent sparsio, the consular largesses represented on other diptychs, such as those of Clement and Justin, with the bag of gold more broadly symbolic of war booty, proof of imperial triumph. Equally, where Caesar Gallus holds a comparable statuette of victory in his image on the Calendar of 354, he wears civil and not military clothing. The officer on the Barberini ivory is thus more likely to represent a general who took part in the victorious campaign represented by the ivory. It is natural to suppose that in the symmetrical panel on the right showed another general in similar fashion.
There is also the possibility that this figure represents the Frankish king Clovis I, who possibly received the diptych in 508.