Five plaques from the front cover of the Lorsch Gospels, carved elephant ivory, Aachen, ca. 810

The book cover consists of five plaques. At the top, two angels hold a medallion containing the bust of Christ. In the central section the Virgin and Child is shown between St John the Baptist on the left and the prophet Zacharias on the right. The plaque at the bottom shows the Nativity and the Annunciation to the Shepherds.
The plaques are in generally good condition. The central panel of the Virgin and Child has two deep cracks running vertically at top (to the left of the Virgin's head) and bottom (to the left of her footstool), and restorations in ivory have been set into the canopy above the Virgin's head and at the centre of the lower border, extending on to the footstool. Presumably contemporary with these restorations, a small section of ivory has been inserted into the lower part of the medallion surrounding Christ above, taking in part of his drapery and the inner beaded border.

Initially on the front cover of the Lorsch Gospels, a Carolingian Gospel book of about 810, together with the back cover now in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican. The inventory of the library of the abbey of St Nazarius at Lorsch, compiled in about 860 and now in the Vatican Library, lists the books as an Evangelium scriptum cum auro pictum habens tabulas eburneas (Schefers 2000, p. 29). The Gospels were probably divided in two by 1479, with the present reliefs acting as the cover of the Gospels of Sts Matthew and Mark (but see the comments in Schefers 2000, pp. 55, 63, 109-10). In 1556, the Gospels were taken from Lorsch by the Elector Palatine Ottheinrich with the rest of the library to Heidelberg to form part of the Bibliotheca Palatina; this in turn was mostly subsumed into the Vatican Library in 1623 (Braunfels 1967, pp. 5-6). The second volume of the manuscript, with the Gospels of Sts Luke and John and the former back cover (now separated and shown in the Museo Sacro), has remained in the Vatican ever since, but the first volume must have been removed by at the least the middle of the eighteenth century, when Gori published the Vatican cover but not the present panels (Gori, A.F. Thesaurus veterum diptychorum consularium et ecclesiasticorum ... Opus Posthumum adcessere Io. Baptistae Passeri Pisaurensis. Florence, 1759, vol. 3, pp. 25-32). The first volume entered the collection of Cardinal Migazzi of Vienna and was sold, apparently without its ivory cover, to Count Ignaz Batthyány, Bishop of Transylvania, in 1785; it is now on deposit at the national Library in Bucharest from the Biblioteca Batthyáneum, Alba Iulia. It is likely therefore that the present cover either remained in Rome, in a private collection, or was removed from the volume when in the possession of Cardinal Migazzi. It surfaced next in the sale of the Cologne collector Peter Leven in 1853, and then passed to the collection of Prince Petr Soltykoff in Paris. It was bought by John Webb, London, at the Soltykoff sale and purchased by the Museum from Webb in 1866 (£588).
The physical condition of the plaques was minutely investigated and described by Charles Rufus Morey (1929), and reference should be made to his publication for diagrams of the pin-holes and their interpretation. It is likely that the upper panel was the first to be carved, and that it was originally intended to be rectangular in shape, with squared corners at the bottom, following Late Antique models. During the carving process the lower corners, pireced with slots to receive the tenons of the flanking panels below, must have broken. Rather than abandoning the panels, the craftsmen decided to adapt the shape of the flanking panels below so that they had a sloping roof and tenons which took into consideration the new shape of the trimmed upper panels. The bottoms of the flanking panels and the narrative plaque below, however, retained the squared-off corners of the Late Antique models which the book-cover followed. At a later date, perhaps in connection with a resetting in the period between 1623 and 1853, the lower parts of the central panels and the upper edge of the narrative panel were modified. The upper corners of the narrative panel were cut back, the square bottoms of the flanking panels were cut diagonally to create a sloping edge which balanced that above, and the central panel of the Virgin and Child was reduced in height at the bottom. It was presumably at this time that the plaques had their tenons cut away and received the extensive cross-hatching on their backs.
As already observed by Morey, the three large holes now filled with plaster in the left border of the plaque with John the Baptist indicate that the London cover was from the beginning the front cover of the Gospels: these were the substantial holes connected with the binding of the manuscript and are echoed by identical holes on the right side of the Vatican cover. Additional evidence for the London panels forming the front cover of the Gospels is the narrative order of the scenes in the lower plaques of both covers and the fact that they were empolyed as the cover of the first two books of the Gospels when the manuscript was divided. As with many Carolingian ivories there are signs that Late Antique panels were re-employed: the bottom plaque of the Vatican cover has the remains of an inscription identifying it as a leaf from a consular diptych of Flavius Anastasius, and the panel showing St John the Baptist on the London cover has what appear to be the remains of a Late Antique hinge system with a groove running along the right side of its reverse.
The gilt-metal frame with spiral ornament seen in earlier photographs of the London cover was in all probability made while the ivories were in the Soltykoff collection in Paris, between 1853 and 1861. It is not seen in the careful illustration included in the Leven sale catalogue, but is specifically mentioned in the Soltykoff catalogue. It is known that Soltykoff was able to call on experienced and talented goldsmiths and other craftsmen to embellish objects in his possession. It seems that the restorer here drew on the illustration of the Vatican cover included in Gori's Thesaurus veterum diptychorum (Gori 1759, vol. 3, pl. IV) for guidance. Judging by its type, the Vatican frame was probably made in the seventeenth or early eighteenth century. The metal frame was removed in 1927.
Scholars now generally agree that the ivories of the Lorsch Gospels are of the same age as the Gospels themselves. The Lorsch Gospels are thought tho be the last of the 'Court School' Gospels to be produced under Charlemagne at Aachen, and were probably executed around 810. The ivories ave obvious and understandable stylistic connections with the illuminations of the Lorsch Gospels, where similar plump faces, staring eyes, scalloped haloes and long curved fingers are to be found; even more striking is the repetition of unusual ornamental patterns, as may be seen by comparing the 'feathered' decoration of the arch above the Virgin's head in the ivory with that above the canon tables on folio 11v of the Gospels (Schefers 2000, pl. XIV). The parallels point to a strong workshop identity for both the ivories and the manuscripts.
The form of both the front and back covers of the Lorsch Gospels reveals their models to be the sixth-century five-part diptychs of Constantinople, such as the Barberini Diptych in the Louvre, and other examples in Ravenna and Paris (Volbach 1976, cat. nos 48, 125, 145). In addition, the type of the standing figures of John the Baptist and Zacharias echoes the figures on the ivory throne of Maximinianus in Ravenna, of about 545-53, and the iconic frontality of the Virgin and child, albeit transformed by the vitality of the drapery folds, is derived from such exemplars as the Virgin and Child plaque in a sixth-century diptych now in Berlin. It has also been suggested that more recent models were employed, of the type exemplified by the early eight-century painted panel in S. Maria in Trastevere in Rome. There are clear differences in style between the London and Vatican covers, indicative not only of at least two ivory carvers being employed but also possibly revealing the effect of the different models drawn upon (Schnitzler 1950).
The ivories of the Lorsch Gospels form part of a small group known as the 'Ada' group, after the abbess connected with the related Trier Gospels (Goldschmidt, vol. 1, 1914, pp. 6-22). These ivories - and manuscripts - have since become known as the 'Court School' of Charlemagne, with the workshops almost certainly based at Aachen. In 2023, the Executive Council of UNESCO inscribed the group as World Document Heritage in the international register 'Memory of the World'.

The panels originally formed the front cover of the so-called Lorsch Gospels, a Carolingian Gospel book dated to about 810. The back cover is now in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican.

Carolingian Court School

These five ivory panels comprise one of the largest and most splendid of Carolingian book covers to have survived. The central panel depicts the Virgin and Child enthroned, with St John on the left and the prophet Zacharias on the right. In the medallion above, the figure of Christ appears in a roundel supported by two angels, his right hand is raised to deliver a blessing. The bottom panel shows the Nativity and the Annunciation to the Shepherds. The panels originally formed the front cover of the so-called Lorsch Gospels, a Carolingian Gospel book dated to about 810. The back cover is now in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican.
The Carolingian court of the Emperor Charlemagne valued learning and culture and as a Christian court, prized the Bible and Gospels above all other works. Manuscripts, especially the Gospels of the New Testament were frequently embellished with illumination and ornate book covers; such decoration was intended to glorify the text within. The book to which these panels were attached was held at the Imperial abbey of Lorsch from where the name of the object derives. It was first mentioned in the library catalogue of the monastery in about 860. The ivories and manuscript are known as belonging to the 'Court School' of Charlemagne, with its the workshop almost certainly based at Aachen.
In 2023, the Executive Council of UNESCO inscribed the whole group of ivories and manuscripts as World Document Heritage in the international register 'Memory of the World'.

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