This casket shows scenes from classical mythology. On the lid is the Rape of Europa. In this myth Jupiter, king of the gods (the Greek Zeus), disguised himself as a bull and abducted a mortal woman. Centaurs (half-men, half-horses) and maenads (wild women) play and dance to the music of Hercules (the Greek Herakles). On the front are scenes from the stories of Bellerophon and Iphigenia. On the back is part of a dionysiac procession, with two figures identified as Mars, god of war (the Greek Ares), and Venus, goddess of love (the Greek Aphrodite). The ends bear scenes of Bacchus, god of wine (the Greek Dionysius), in a chariot drawn by panthers, and a nymph riding a seahorse.
The Veroli casket belongs to a group of Byzantine ivory and bone boxes made in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. They are known as 'Rosette caskets' because of their border decoration. The detailed treatment of the carving and the deep undercutting of the scenes mark this one out as the finest of the group. Like the Córdoba casket (Museum no. 10-1866), it was probably made for a member of the Umayyad house. (The Umayyads ruled Islam from 661 to 750 AD. Their capital was Damascus in Syria.) Originally, it must have belonged to a person of high standing, possibly at the court of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VIII (976-1028). This casket was kept in the Cathedral Treasury at Veroli, a town south-east of Rome, until 1861.
Physical description
On the top and the sides of the Veroli casket are subjects from classical myths, surrounded with bands of rosettes. The subjects may be identified as follows:
On the left of the lid, the Rape of Europa. On the right, centaurs and others playing and dancing. On the front of the casket, the stories of Bellerophon and Iphegenia, on the back a scene with children and and animals and other representations of Europa, with Mars and Venus. On one end of the casket Bacchus, on the other a nymph riding a sea horse
Place of Origin
Istanbul (made)
Date
950-1000 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown
Materials and Techniques
Wood overlaid with carved ivory and bone plaques with traces of polychrome and gilding
Dimensions
Height: 11.9 cm
Width: 41.9 cm
Depth: 16 cm
Weight: 1.72 kg
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
Object history note
This casket was acquired by the Webb collection from the Cathedral at Veroli, south east of Rome, in 1861.
Historical context note
The excellence of the carving suggests that it must have originally have belonged to a person of high standing possibly at the court of the Emperor Constantine VIII (976-1028).
Descriptive line
Veroli Casket, ivory, Constantinople, mid of 10th century
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Williamson, Paul, ed. European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996. 191p., ill. ISBN 1851771883. Cutler, Anthony, The Hand of the Master: Craftsmanship, Ivory and Society in Byzantium (9th-11th centuries), Princeton, 1994.
Beckwith, John. The Veroli Casket. London: HMSO, 1962. 28p., 16 p. of plates: ill. (Museum Monographs No. 18) NAL Pressmark: 37.O.Box V
Connor, CL. The color of ivory. Polychromy on Byzantine ivories.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998. ISBN 0691048185. pp. 18-19, fig. 6. NAL Pressmark: NC.99.0884
See appendix A, entry 41, for Connor's results of her microscopic pigment analysis of this object.
Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1865. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1. London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868., p. 31.
Beckwith, John. The Art of Constantinople: an Introduction to Byzantine Art 330-1453. Lodnon: Phaidon., 1961. p. 76.
Simon, Erika. Nonnos und das Elfenbeinkästchen aus Veroli. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. 1964, LXXIX. P. 279.
Williamson, Paul. The Medieval Treasury: the Art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986. pp. 88-89.
Wentzel, Hans. Das byzantinische Erbe der ottonischen Kaiser : Hypothesen über den Brautschatz der Theophano.Aachener Kunstblätter. 1972, XLIII. P. 52.
Belting, Hans. Problemi Vecchi e Nuovi Sull'arte della Cosidetta "Renaissance Macedone" a Bisanzio. XXIX Corso di Cultura Sull'arte Ravennate e Bizantina. Ravenna, 1982. pp. 31-57.
Cutler, Anthony. Oh Byzantine Boxes. The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery. 1984-1985, 42-43. pp. 32-47.
Cutler, Anthony. The Hand of the Master: Craftmanship, Ivory, and Society in Byzantium(9th-11th centuries). Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994. p. 56.
Cutler, Anthony. Un triptyque byzantin en ivoire : la Nativité du Louvre ; etude comparée avec le coffret de Veroli, du Victoria and Albert Museum de Londres. Revue du Louvre. 1988. no. 1. pp. 21-28.
Speck, Paul. Die Rosettenkästchen. Byzantinische Zeitschrift. 86/87, 1993/1994. pp. 79-85.
Bober, Phyllis Pray and Rubinstein, Ruth. Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture: a Handbook of Sources. Oxford, 1986. p. 136.
Cutler, Anthony. Mistaken Antiquity: Through on Some Recent Commentary on the Rosetta Caskets. In: Sevcenko, Ihor and Hutter, Irmgard. eds. Aetos: Studies in Honour of Cyril Mango. Stuttgart, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1998. pp. 46-54.
Hanson, John. Erotic Imagery on Byzantine Ivory Caskets. In: James, Liz. ed. Desire and Denial in Byzantium: Papers from the Thirty-First Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Sussex, Brignthon, March 1997. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999. pp. 171-184.
Hanson, John. The Stuttgart Casket and the Permeability of the Byzantine Artistic Tradition. Gesta. 1998, XXXVII. pp. 13-25.
Cutler, Anthony. Nineteenth-century Versions of the Veroli Casket. In: Entwistle, Christopher, ed. Through a Glass Brightly: Studies in Byzantine and Medieval Art and Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2003. pp. 199-209.
Trusted, Marjorie, ed. The Making of Sculpture. The Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture. London: 2007, p. 118, plate 212
Cormack, Robin and Vassilaki, Maria (eds.). Byzantinum 330-1453. Royal Acacdemy of Arts, London 2008, cat. no. 66, p. 397, illustr. p. 124
Attribution Note
then Constantinople
Materials
Wood; Bone; Elephant ivory
Techniques
Gilding; Carving
Subjects depicted
Rosettes; Figures; Venus; Hercules; Nymphs; Mars; Sea-horse; Processions; Chariots (ancient vehicles); Centaurs; Panther; Europa; Maenad; Dionysus; Iphigenia; The Rape of Europa; Aphrodite; Bellerophon; Ares
Categories
Sculpture; Myths & Legends; Containers
Production Type and Product Note
Unique
Collection code
SCP
