Borradaile Triptych
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The Borradaile Triptych is an ivory
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
triptych carved in
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
between 900 and 1000 AD. It was bequeathed by Charles Borradaile to the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, in 1923, British Museum Collection
/ref> and is one of the "Romanos Group" of ivories that are closely connected with the Imperial Court, along with the
Harbaville Triptych The Harbaville Triptych is a Byzantine ivory triptych of the middle of the 10th century with a Deesis and other saints, now in the Louvre. Traces of colouring can still be seen on some figures. It is regarded as the finest, and best-preserved, ...
and Wernher Triptych.


Description

The central panel of the triptych is carved with the
Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...
, with the
Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
and St. John to each side and half-length figures of the archangels Michael and Gabriel above. The Greek inscription above their heads reads "Behold thy Son; Behold thy Mother" (John 19.26-7). On the left leaf, from top to bottom are carved St. Cyrus; St. George and
Theodore Stratelates Theodore Stratelates ( grc-gre, Ἅγιος Θεόδωρος ὁ Στρατηλάτης (); cop, ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲑⲉⲟⲇⲱⲣⲟⲥ), also known as Theodore of Heraclea ( grc-gre, Θεόδωρος Ἡρακλείας; AD 281–319) ...
, with St. Menas and St. Procopius below; on the right leaf are carved the figures of St. John, St. Eustathius, Clement of Ancyra with St. Stephen and St. Kyrion above. On the reverse are two crosses and roundels containing the busts of St. Joachim and St. Anna in the centre, with St. Basil and
St. Barbara Saint Barbara ( grc, Ἁγία Βαρβάρα; cop, Ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ Ⲃⲁⲣⲃⲁⲣⲁ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr. Accounts place her in t ...
, and John the Persian and St. Thecla in the terminals. Traces of a painted lozenge can be seen in the right-hand leaf.


Original Owner

The choice of saints must reflect the interests of the patron who originally ordered the
triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...
to be made. It has been speculated that it was made for Anna Porphyrogenita, daughter of the Emperor
Romanos II Romanos II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Ρωμανός, 938 – 15 March 963) was Byzantine Emperor from 959 to 963. He succeeded his father Constantine VII at the age of twenty-one and died suddenly and mysteriously four years later. His son Bas ...
, but this cannot be substantiated.


References


Further reading

* Evans, Helen C. & Wixom, William D.
''The glory of Byzantium: art and culture of the Middle Byzantine era, A.D. 843-1261''
no. 80, 1997, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, {{ISBN, 9780810965072; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries *Goldschmidt and Weizmann 1934, No 38 Triptychs Byzantine ivory 10th-century sculptures Medieval European objects in the British Museum