Volume 1

A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood.

Date:: [between 1890 and 1899?]

Credit: A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

1034/1096 (page 1014)

$Flavius Taurus Clementinus, now at Nuremberg, had an ecclesiastical diptych-list engraven on the ivory itself, and the Diptychon Leodiense, in memory of the consul Flavius Astyrius, forms one of the sides of an evangeliary in St. Martin’s, of Liege, and is also engraA’ed on the inside. (See Donati, Dc Dittici degli Antichi profani e sacri, Lucca, 1753-4; Gori, Thesaurus veterum Dipty- chum, Flor. 1751, fol.; and Maskell, Ivories, 1876.) There is a passage in Cassiodorus in which he speaks of having designed and published, or set forth in a collected volume, a number of e.\amples of carvings, or designs of some kind, for the external bindings of sacred books. “We have moreover designed skilful artifices in the cover- ings of our MSS.; so that there might be a covering of outer ornament over the beauty of the sacred text, herein perhaps in some sort imitating that example of the Lord’s figuring. Who clothed in marriage garments those whom He thought worthy of invitation to His supper. Among which we have set forth many examples of designs (facturarum) represented in one volume, that any studious person may choose for himself any form of covering he shall prefei {De Listitulione divin. Scripturarum, cap. xxx.) These would probably be executed in ivory for the most part. The ivory of Murano (descidbed by Costadoni in the collection of Calogera, tom. XX.) is of the greatest interest, as it is covered with reliefs of the ancient cubicula of the cata- combs and of the earlier sarcophagi, and it may be considered earlier than the 8th century. The nail-holes intended to fix the ivory panel on the cover of the book to which it belonged still remain, as is the case with many ivories, which have been used for reliquaries and shrines, as in the case of the diptychs of Symmachus and Nicomachus (Gori, Tlies inrus, tom. i. p. 207). For 9th-century ivories as bindings of church books, those of the evangeliary of Lorch in the Vatican, and of the sacramentary of Droyon and evangeliary, No. 99 of the Bibliotheque Nationale, may be referred to. The collection, or catalogue, of Professor Westwood, is the best reference in this country for all the more ancient documents on ivory. The Gothic evangeliary of Ulfilas is called Codex Argenteus, on account of its rich binding of that metal; and the evangeliaries of St. Medard and St. Emmeran possess covers of enamel and gold respectively, the latter with embossed portraits. Plates of vermilion-enamel occur in the Eusebian gospels, and one of the covers of the Lorch evangeliary is of this mate- rial. This use of different metals was practised by Victor III., while at Monte Casino, under the name of Didier; who ornamented an epistolary for his abbey, with gold plate on one side and silver on the other; this binding was called dimidius (D’Achery, Spicllegium, tom. iii. p. 402). Precious stones, and even relics, have been en- closed in these bindings, as by Didier of Monte Cassino, in the MS. of St. Emmerand, in the splendid ones of the Sainte-Chapelle,*' and in «■ On the gold bindings of the Sainte-Chapelle evan- geliaries :— No. Emeralds. Pearls. Sapphires. Rubies. 1. 30 140 35 24 (10th cent.) 2. 26 60 12 10 Onyx 2. many instances, and with great magnificence, in the Eastern church.* The subjects represented in ivory or metal on covers of sacred books are of course, in most cases, simple in choice and in execution during our period. Gueranger mentions in particular the grand ivory cover of the Lorch evangeliary in the Vatican, which bears some resemblance in its carving to the work of the later sarco- phagi, and which he vindicates on Gori’s autho- rity {Thes. vet. Diptych, tom. iii. tab. iv.) from the imputation of being a pagan ivory, altered and adapted to Christian use.* Our Lord is represented as holding the Gospel and treading down the Lion and the Dragon, attended by two angels bearing sceptres and rolls ; above are two flying angels with a clipeate cross, and below, two subjects of the ]\Iagi before Herod, and also making their oflerings to the Holy Child and His Mother. On the great MS. 99 of the Biblioth^ue Na- tionale, are Lazarus, the Samaritan woman, and the Entry into Jerusalem, treated much as in the sarcophagi. See Trdsor de Numismatique, Bas-reliefs et Ornements, X. Se'rie, II. Classe, 2 partie, pi. ix. x. xi. The sacramentary of Drogon has liturgical rites chased or embossed on its cover in eighteen compartments. The embossed figure of our Lord on the Ver- celli Gospels is probably one of the earliest in such a place, and dates from about 888. Representa- tions of the crucifixion also begin in that age. The folio work of Prof. Westwood, published 1869, contains an appendix note on the mag- nificent book-covers, “auro argento gemmis- que ornata, which are repeatedly mentioned in connexion with fine early copies of the Gospels. They have, for the most part, long ago disappeared; but there still exist a number of metal ca.ses which have served to hold some of the smaller Irish MSS., which generally exhibit restorations at various periods.” They are also generally ornamented with crystals or other gems, and are known under the name of cumhdachs. See article on the Book of Armagh, p. 80; on the Bsalter of S. Columba, p. 82 ; the Book of Diurna, pp. 83, 84; and the Gospels of S. M 'lling, p. 93. Plate 51, fig. 9, represents a party of ecclesiastics from the cumhdach of the Stow missal, p. 88. The front of that of St. Molaise or Molasch is at fig. 6, pi. 53. “ It is 5| inches by 4| inches, and 3^ inches deep ; of bronze, bound with silver, overlaid with open- work, riveted, on w’hite metal, silvered ... a cruciform or wheel-cross design, with the em- blems of the Four Evangelists at the angles, bar- barously designed. Portions of gold filigree and interlaced ornaments, with some jewels, occupy some of the remaining compartments of the open- work, one ruby still remaining in its setting.” The capsae or cases in w’hich the books thus gorgeously ornamented were deposited for safely were generally made of, or adorned with, plates * Even in Constantinople. The Russian service books have been pronounced the most splendid in the world (La Neuville, Relation de Moscovie, h Paris, 1698,.p. 193, quoted by Gueranger). t It appears to be 8th or 9th century by the nimbi, the imago clipeata, and its overloaded ornament; it cannot be supposed to be of anything like primitive or classica* antiquity.$