Archangel ivory [SEP] collection
Archangel ivory
The Archangel ivory is the largest surviving Byzantine ivory panel, now in the British Museum in London. Dated to the early 6th century, it depicts an archangel holding a sceptre and imperial orb.
Description.
The archangel is usually identified as Michael, and the panel is assumed to have formed the right part of a diptych, with the lost left half possibly depicting Emperor Justinian (reigned 527–565), to whom the archangel would be offering the insignia of imperial power. The panel is the largest single
Archangel ivory in London, of which only one panel survives, represents an archangel holding a sceptre and a globe topped by a cross and can be assigned to the same ideological movement. It was dated precisely to the start of Justinian's reign in 527 by D.H. Wright, after making a new translation of its Greek inscription.
The identification of the triumphant emperor with Justinian thus corresponds quite well to the imagery left behind by this emperor, which also includes equestrian statues and statues of Victory (for victories over the Persians that