DOI Artikel:
Ratkowska, Paulina: "Ut quid perditio haec?": Ivory relief Christ in the House of Simon
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18951#0016
Paulina Ratkowska
“UT QUID PERDITIO HAEC?”'
IYORY RELIEF CHRIST IN THE HOUSE OF SIMON
In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is an ivory plaąue which comes from
the old collection of Prince Saltykov.1 2 When in 1861 Saltykov’s collection was
sold, the plaąue entered into the collection of the well-known English collector
George Webb, and from there it came into the possession of the Museum. In
his catalogue of Early Mediaeval ivory reliefs from the 8th and 9th centuries Adolf
Goldschmidt, outstanding expert in Early Mediaeval art, noted the use (as
a materiał) by a 10th century artist of an older plaąue (diptych’s wing), dating from
the 7th or 8* century, on which there have been preserved traces of an unfinished
composition, worn out but still legible, depicting scenes of the Baptism and the
Ascension of Christ.3
The 10th century relief shows two evangelical scenes framed by an acanthus
scroll: the upper one represents the Entry of Chńst into Jerusalem, while the
lower shows the scene descriptively characterized by Goldschmidt as Chńst in
the House of Simon (ill. 1).
During public activity of Christ in Galilee, described in detail in the Gospel
of Lukę,4 Jesus was to come across an adulteress, a woman who was for a long
time identified by exegetes mainly with St. Mary Magdalenę, till, at last, modern
Biblicists declared that this identification is not justified.5 She has to remain for
us an anonymous woman, yet we must remember that the Middle Ages generally
identified her with St. Mary Magdalenę. Let us ąuote here the text of the Gospel
1 Matthew 26: 8.
2 A. Goldschmidt, Die Elfenbeinskulpturen ans der Zeit der karolingischen und sdchsischen Kaiser
VIII. bisXI. Jakrhundert, Berlin 1914,1, No. 107, pi. XLIX; school of Metz, 9-10 century; 13 x 8,5 cm.
3 Ibidem, p. 56.
4 Lukę 7: 36-50.
5 On the portable ivory altar at the St. Aubin Cathedral in Namur, dated by Goldschmidt to the half
of the llth century, the woman in this scene is described by the engraved word PECCATRDC; see
Goldschmidt, op.cit., Berlin 1918, II, pl. XIX, no. 61 a, no. 18 of the list of subjects, p. 31.
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“UT QUID PERDITIO HAEC?”'
IYORY RELIEF CHRIST IN THE HOUSE OF SIMON
In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is an ivory plaąue which comes from
the old collection of Prince Saltykov.1 2 When in 1861 Saltykov’s collection was
sold, the plaąue entered into the collection of the well-known English collector
George Webb, and from there it came into the possession of the Museum. In
his catalogue of Early Mediaeval ivory reliefs from the 8th and 9th centuries Adolf
Goldschmidt, outstanding expert in Early Mediaeval art, noted the use (as
a materiał) by a 10th century artist of an older plaąue (diptych’s wing), dating from
the 7th or 8* century, on which there have been preserved traces of an unfinished
composition, worn out but still legible, depicting scenes of the Baptism and the
Ascension of Christ.3
The 10th century relief shows two evangelical scenes framed by an acanthus
scroll: the upper one represents the Entry of Chńst into Jerusalem, while the
lower shows the scene descriptively characterized by Goldschmidt as Chńst in
the House of Simon (ill. 1).
During public activity of Christ in Galilee, described in detail in the Gospel
of Lukę,4 Jesus was to come across an adulteress, a woman who was for a long
time identified by exegetes mainly with St. Mary Magdalenę, till, at last, modern
Biblicists declared that this identification is not justified.5 She has to remain for
us an anonymous woman, yet we must remember that the Middle Ages generally
identified her with St. Mary Magdalenę. Let us ąuote here the text of the Gospel
1 Matthew 26: 8.
2 A. Goldschmidt, Die Elfenbeinskulpturen ans der Zeit der karolingischen und sdchsischen Kaiser
VIII. bisXI. Jakrhundert, Berlin 1914,1, No. 107, pi. XLIX; school of Metz, 9-10 century; 13 x 8,5 cm.
3 Ibidem, p. 56.
4 Lukę 7: 36-50.
5 On the portable ivory altar at the St. Aubin Cathedral in Namur, dated by Goldschmidt to the half
of the llth century, the woman in this scene is described by the engraved word PECCATRDC; see
Goldschmidt, op.cit., Berlin 1918, II, pl. XIX, no. 61 a, no. 18 of the list of subjects, p. 31.
14