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| Swordsman with convex shield in baggy trousers and round hat. | Dancer in tunic with extra long sleeves and/or holding scarves. | |
Casket with Warriors and Mythological Figures
Date: 10th–11th century
Geography: Made in Constantinople
Culture: Byzantine
Medium: Bone plaques and ornamental strips over wood; silver lock plate
Dimensions: Overall: 4 5/8 x 17 1/4 x 7 1/8in. (11.7 x 43.8 x 18.1cm)
Classification: Ivories
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number: 17.190.237
Provenance: [ George Brauer, Paris (sold to Morgan)]; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York
Bone caskets, used by the Byzantines in their homes, were often decorated with themes from classical antiquity. In the Middle Ages many such caskets reached western Europe, where despite their non-Christian decoration they were used in churches as containers for relics.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York