Panel with Byzantine Ivory Carving of the Crucifixion

Panel with Byzantine Ivory Carving of the Crucifixion

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Byzantine ivories were highly prized in western Europe, where they survived in church treasuries or were incorporated into deluxe book bindings. The ivory from the panel on the left originally formed the center of a Byzantine three-paneled icon. It may have been one of the many gifts to the Nunnery of Santa Cruz de la Serós, which was founded by Queen Felicia (d. 1085), wife of Sancho V Ramírez (r. 1076–94), king of Aragon and Navarre. The sumptuous cover also contains a sapphire seal, located to the right of Saint John, inscribed in Arabic with four of the ninety-nine “Beautiful Names” of God.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Panel with Byzantine Ivory Carving of the CrucifixionPanel with Byzantine Ivory Carving of the CrucifixionPanel with Byzantine Ivory Carving of the CrucifixionPanel with Byzantine Ivory Carving of the CrucifixionPanel with Byzantine Ivory Carving of the Crucifixion

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.