Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (6.1965)

Any ambitional inceutryes were lacking sińce the production of the Egyptian artists was ano-
nymous and the value of the work was appreciated according to the standards of craftsmauship.
The artist could express himself in his work reahstically by shaping the torso in the framework
of binding manner, and, mostly, by giving some individual features to the head. Such an indi-
vidual expression is very rare in provincial sculptures, as more or less talented craftsmen
often limited themselves to mechanical imitation of the model. The existing differences within
the compass of a definite type are due rather to a less skillfull application of the model30.

The torso of a woman, described above, can be considered as an individual work of a talented
provincial artist. The present statc of preservation of the second here disscussed work makes
impossible a just appreciation of its artistic value. Both our statuettes stylistically can be at-
tached to the School of Thebes and their auality testifies to the continuity of workshop tra-
ditions in Edfu31.

30. The Egyptians did not know the methbd of punctuation.

31. Compare the results of the excavations in the necropolis of the period of the Ancient Kingdom in Edfu — Fouiltes
franco-polonaises, Tell Edfou, I, II, III op. cii.

Paulina Ratkowska

AN EAST CHRISTIAN DIPTYCH W!Ti i THE HEORTOLOGICAL CYCTE

Two ivory plaques wifh the Christological scenes and Greek inscriptions, no w in the National
Museum (fig. 1—4), formed originally, beyond a doubt, the wings of an ecclesiastical diptych*.
The correspondencc of their shape and dimensions, the position of orifices Ieft after broken
hinges, the logical sequence of the images on the obverses give us a sufficient evidence of that.

The provenance of thepieces is rather obscure except for their previous preservation in
the Vilnius private collection. After the last war they were offered to the Department of
Mediaeval Art by Mr. Joseph TCojdecki, Curator at the Museum1.

Six old screws, sticking in the plaques, bear witness to a subsequent to inediaeval use of
the obverses as a decoration fixed to a fiat background. The presence of the screws seems
to justify the conjccture that the diptych even up to modern times was still an object of reli-
gious devotion.

The piece was unknown to the authors of the Corpus of Byzantine and Early Mediaeval ivo-
ries — Adolf Goldsclimidt and Kurt Weitzmann— and also escaped the attention of Polish scho-
lars. The aim of the present article is to bring to light this valuable work of art, so worthy of
interest. The attempt, here made, to define the date and the artistic origins of the diptych

* I wish to express ray sincere gratitude to Professor Constantine A. Trypanis and Professor Ihor Seveenko for
reading the border inscriptions of the diptych and for many hclpful suggestions, as well as to all my friends, who di-
rcctly or indircctly helped me in preparing this article. Partieular thanks are due to Dr. Tadeusz Dobrzeniecki,
who encouraged me to takc up this work and to whose knowledge and friendliness I owe so much.

1. The information as to the earlier whereabouts of the diptych was kindly given by the donor, by Professor S. Lo-
rentz and Professor J. Hoppen.

92