{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O92636"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O92636/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CA7186/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CA7186/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CA7186","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CA7190","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CA6717","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CA6718","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CR2814","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY1174","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KB8437","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX2081","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O92636/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O92636","accessionNumber":"296-1867","objectType":"Panel","titles":[{"title":"The Dormition of the Virgin and Saints","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is a Byzantine ivory panel made in Constantinople in the late 10th or early 11th century. The plaque formed once the centre of a triptych.\r\nThis panel depicts the Dormition of the Virgin. At the top of the Dormition, Christ stands behind the Virgin's bed, taking her soul up to Heaven. In the middle row are Sts. Gregory of Nyssa, Basil, Paul and Peter; at the bottom Sts. Cosmas, Damian, Nicholas and John Chrysostom. \r\n\r\nThe Death of the Virgin is depicted at the top, a scene which does not show the moment of the Virgin's death but the moment at which Christ comes to take away her soul after death. The story of the Death of the Virgin  comes from the Apocryphal New Testament and appears very often in Byzantine art; its importance is reflected in the dominant place it often occupies in church decoration, on the west wall of the building. The basic format of the scene varies little over centuries. Standing saints appear very frequently in all forms of Byzantine art; here they are arranged not according to the calendar but according to their hierarchical order as found in the liturgy. Sts Paul and Peter embracing is very unusual in Byzantine Art and was probably taken over from western examples. In the present context it is likely to represent the saints' final meeting before martyrdom, juxtaposed with the Virgin's death on the level above.","physicalDescription":"An ivory panel with three registers / sections: At the top, the \"Koimesis\" or  Death (Dormition) of the Virgin, when Christ comes to take away the soul of the Virgin after her death. She lies on her death bed, surrounded by the apostles (there are actually thirteen heads depicted), with St Paul at the foot of the bed and St. Peter swinging a censer. Christ stands behind the bed, holding up the personification of the Virgin's soul (restored). Two angels fly down on the left and a third flies up to heaven. Inscriptions above the bed. In the middle section are St. Gregory of Nyssa and St Basil, and St Paul and St Peter embracing. On the bottom row are Sts Cosmas and Damian, St  Nicholas and St John Chrysostom identified by inscriptions. On the back is a large cross with rosettes at the ends of the arms (a cross is frequently carved on the back of Byzantine ivories).","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Elephant ivory","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Death","id":"THES48970"}],"styles":[{"text":"Byzantine","id":"AAT20669"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2009CA7186","2009CA7190","2009CA6717","2009CA6718","2009CR2814","2006AY1174","2017KB8437","2019LX2081"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"8 (VA)","id":"THES49714"},"free":"","case":"CA4","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Panel","id":""}],[{"text":"Plaque","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Constantinople","id":"x33871"},"association":{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 10th century to early 11th century","earliest":"0950-01-01","latest":"1050-12-31"},"association":{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"27.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"13","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at bottom","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"13.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at top","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"0.4","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'H KOIMHCIC'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"'Death of the Virgin'","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Incised above of the bed of the Virgin"}],"objectHistory":"Formerly in the Webb collection. Acquired in 1867.\r\nThis plaque formed once the centre of a triptych.\n\nHistorical significance: The Death of the Virgin is depicted at the top, a scene which does not show the moment of the Virgin's death but the moment at which Christ comes to take away her soul after death. The story of the Death of the Virgin  comes from the Apocryphal New Testament and appears very often in Byzantine art; its importance is reflected in the dominant place it often occupies in church decoration, on the west wall of the building. The basic format of the scene varies little over centuries. Standing saints appear very frequently in all forms of Byzantine art; here they are arranged not according to the calendar but according to their hierarchical order as found in the liturgy. Sts Paul and Peter embracing is very unusual in Byzantine Art and was probably taken over from western examples. In the present context it is likely to represent the saints' final meeting before martyrdom, juxtaposed with the Virgin's death on the level above.","historicalContext":"The plaque exemplifies the style of the so-called 'Nikephoros Group', named by Goldschmidt and Weitzmann after the ivory panel on the Cortona Reliquary of the True Cross, which is associated by inscription with the Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas. It displays a distinctive stylistic homogeneity, with a rough but monumental style of carving and with broad and blunt facial features.","briefDescription":"Panel, ivory, depicting the Dormition of the Virgin and Saints, Byzantine (Constantinople), late 10th or early 11th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"P. Williamsson, <u>The Medieval Treasury</u>, London, 1986, p. 95"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1867. <font -u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1.</font> London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 11"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Longhurst, Margaret H. <font -u>Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory.</font> London: Published under the Authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929, Part I, p. 43"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cutler, Anthony. <font -u>The Hand of the Master : Craftsmanship, Ivory, and Society in Byzantium (9th-11th centuries).</font> Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994, p. 279, n. 108"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cf. Weitzmann, Kurt. Byzantine Miniature and Icon Painting in the Eleventh Century. <font -u>XIIIth international Congress of Byzantine Studies, Main Paper VII.</font> Oxford, 1966, pl. 40, 41"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Goldschmidt, A. and Weitzmann, K. <u>Die byzantinischen Elfenbeinskulpturen des X. - XIII. Jahrhunderts, Zweiter Band: Reliefs</u>, Berlin, 1934 (reprinted, Berlin, 1979), cat.no. 111"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Williamson, Paul. <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings. Early Christian to Romanesque</u>. London, V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2010, pp. 116-119, cat.no. 26"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Paul (Saint)","id":"N401"},{"text":"Peter (Saint)","id":"N400"},{"text":"Gregory (Saint)","id":"N511"},{"text":"Basil","id":"N3598"},{"text":"Cosmas","id":"N322"},{"text":"Damian (Saint)","id":"N3689"},{"text":"Nicholas (Saint)","id":"N1548"},{"text":"Chrysostom, John","id":"N612"},{"text":"Mary (Virgin Mary)","id":"N480"},{"text":"Jesus Christ","id":"N1515"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Death of the Virgin","id":"V425"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["Apocryphs"],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["296-1867"],"accessionNumberNum":"296","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1867,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU8951"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-30","recordCreationDate":"2004-02-11","availableToBook":false}}