Art and devotion

Christ’s Victory over Death

Caroline Farey on a 10th century Byzantine ivory icon held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This intricate little ivory plaque stands just under six inches high. Made in the mid 10th century and being so small, it is most likely to have been part of a devotional object or a cover for a precious book.

You can see holes at the top and base which suggest that it was fixed to something from these points rather than at the sides. Because of this it probably wasn’t a more commonly found diptych (two panels joined together down one side) or a triptych, of three panels. (The Metropolitan Museum suggest that it is a panel from a triptych so they may have other reasons for saying this.)

Ivory has several valued characteristics that made it a very popular medium in the Byzantine culture of the first millennium. Ivory was not difficult to carve, could carry fine detail and warped very little in changing temperatures and humidity. Its soft creamy colour and texture were appreciated, and it could not be melted down like gold or silver, so many examples survive.

This piece probably comes from Constantinople in the East. In the West, English ivory carvings from the medieval period were also especially fine and intricate though largely destroyed at the Reformation.

Here you can see that the single piece of ivory (the width of a tusk, as here, or in panels) has been hollowed out leaving the figures and other details in strong relief, the ivory having been carved deeply away behind them. The figure of Christ may be an additional piece of ivory kept in place by pins, but mainly the details are part of the one original piece of ivory held firm at the back and carved in deep relief.

Stylized palmettes

Christ’s victory over death as the key theme of this icon, is portrayed from the very top to the base in a dramatic set of contrasts. At the top, in the upper left and right corners, one can see ‘stylized palmettes’. The palm tree and its leaves are used in Christianity as a symbol of the tree of victory, the victory of Christ’s life over death and sin, the victory of the Cross. Also at the top, at the very centre, is a symbol of the Trinity, a small orb radiating three leaves for the three persons in one God.

The most striking feature is perhaps the setting of the crucifixion under an elaborate and delicate canopy, a baldachin or baldacchino, with its similarly carved columns. Such canopies were placed over thrones and altars. Here it indicates both, since Christ’s cross is his altar and his throne. The technique used for the fine decoration, later known as a jour, letting the daylight through, is used to give a sense of richness, lightness, and a sense that Christ is the light of the world who passes from death to life.

Christ’s victory is perhaps indicated, above all, by the figure of Hades, the god of death who gives his name to the place of the dead, who is placed at the base of the cross. An inscription beside this figure makes it clear: “The Cross Implanted in the Stomach of Hades”.

Just as the tree of Jesus’ earthly life ancestry is often portrayed coming from the stomach of the Patriarch Jesse, so, here in contrast, the tree of Christ’s earthly death arises strikingly from the stomach of Hades. The victory comes, as St Paul tells us when the last enemy is conquered and, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (I Cor 15:26).

Notice that Hades takes hold of the conquering cross of the slumped figure of Christ as though he is in control. In the book of Revelation Christ calls out, “I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades” (Rev 1:18). The ‘keys’ are understood by the Church to be the sacraments where the victorious power of the Cross can reach all generations, and to the ends of the world, to save them from sin and death.

The baldacchino also reminds us of the sanctuary of a Church where the victorious sacrifice of the Eucharist is made present on the altar beneath it. This little object is, therefore, as much a devotional reminder of the great mysteriumfideiof the Eucharist, as it is of the historical event of Christ’s crucifixion.

Finally, the baldacchino is an image of the bridal chamber of the church where the prophecy of Joel is fulfilled: “Gather the people, consecrate the congregation, assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her bridal chamber” (Joel 2:16). On the Cross and at Holy Mass, the bridegroom (Jesus) gives himself to his bride (the Church) in everlasting love. “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9).

The two gentle figures standing either side of the crucifix are clearly Mary, the Mother of the Lord, and John, the Apostle. Mary typically points to her Son while John gestures in distress as he lifts his right hand to his face and clutches tightly at his garment with his left hand, pondering the great mystery before him. Jesus’ head is slumped and his eyes closed but his hands are spread open and point downwards over his beloved mother and disciple, as grace pours down from them with his blood to his bride, the Church.

John’s grip on his cloak links the viewer to the group of three figures sitting directly below the foot-support or suppedaneum (sub-ped-aneum, under the feet) of the crucified Christ, where the inscription ‘Division of the Cloak’ is carved in Greek behind them. These three, then, are Roman soldiers (John 19:23–24). One has a sword and he takes hold of the cloak of Christ draped over the knee of the middle figure, ready to divide up the booty as though they too are the victors.

Placing the scene under the footstool, under the feet of Our Lord, however, is highly symbolic. Jesus quotes the psalms about himself saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet” (Mt 22:24). As St Paul tell us, God, ‘has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over everything for the Church, which is his body’ (Eph 1:22). ‘…and of His kingdom there will be no end." (Lk 1:33).