Panel of a Diptych Announcing the Consulship of Justinian

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Justinian, who would be the greatest emperor of the early Byzantine period, presented this handsome ivory panel (one of two forming a diptych, see acc. no. 17.190.52) to a member of the Roman Senate announcing his election as consul. The title, now largely honorific, was once that of supreme magistrate of the Roman Republic. Once hinged together with the names of the other consuls inscribed in wax on the interior, the panels were probably presented as an invitation to the great public games that new consuls hosted in Constantinople’s hippodrome (stadium). The elegantly carved classical motifs focused attention on the inscriptions written in Latin, still the official language of the Empire.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art