SymmachiNicomachi diptych
him excellent tablets of ivory.[5] When the events of the
The two panels side by side.
The SymmachiNicomachi diptych is a Late Antique
ivory diptych dating to the late fourth or early fth
century[1] whose panels depict scenes of ritual pagan re-
ligious practices. Both its style and its content reect
a short-lived revival of traditional Roman religion and
Classicism at a time when the Roman world was increas-
ingly turning to Christianity and rejecting the Classical
tradition. The diptych takes its name from the inscrip-
tions Nicomachorum and Symmachorum, references
to two prominent Senatorial families. It was commis-
sioned by the family of Q. Aurelius Symmachus consul
391, one of the paladins of the pagan cause in the last
quarter of the fourth century.[2]
1 Provenance
The diptych leaves were preserved together until the nine-
teenth century.[3] The earliest description of the leaves
dates to 1717, when a treasury inventory of the monastery
of Montier-en-Der records them serving as doors on an
early thirteenth century reliquary.[4] Art historian and
scholar Richard Delbrueck uncovered a reference to the
panels in the abbot Adsos tenth century biography of
Bercharius, who founded the monastery ca. 670. Adso
wrote that his predecessor visited Jerusalem and ob-
tained very many sacred relics, and he brought back with
1
French Revolution forced the closure of the monastery in
1790, the reliquary and its panels were temporarily lost.
The Nicomachi wing was recovered in 1860 from a well,
heavily damaged by re, and the mostly intact Symmachi
panel resurfaced in the hands of a collector not long after.
They were subsequently acquired by the Muse de Cluny
and the Victoria and Albert Museum respectively.
2 Description
The diptych was produced in Rome sometime between
388 and 401,[3] or in Milan, by the identical border de-
tails in the ivory panel of the Maries at the Tomb.[6] The
Nicomachi panel measures 29.9 x 12.6 cm, that of the
Symmachi 29.8 x 12.2 cm. Both wings depict female g-
ures engaged in religious ritual before sacricial altars.
The Nicomachi tablet in Paris is by far the less well pre-
served of the pair, having sustained considerable damage
in a re. The ivory is fractured in several places, with
some sections of the panel missing completely, together
with high-relief areas such as the female gures face, left
hand and right arm. This gure stands before a round
altar, holding two lit torches now partially missing. Cym-
bals hang from a pine tree overhead; both the tree and
its hangings are attributes of the goddess Cybele and her
consort Attis.[7]
The Symmachi leaf in London features an ivy-crowned
woman sprinkling incense over the ames of a square al-
tar garlanded with oak wreaths. A small attendant hold-
ing a kantharos and a bowl of fruit assists her. The oak
garlands together with the oak tree overhead suggest the
worship of Jupiter, while the ivy leaves recall the god
Dionysus.[8] The female gures have been variously in-
terpreted as priestesses[8] and as goddesses.[9]
The panels are generally believed to celebrate the alliance
through marriage of two senatorial families, the Sym-
machi and Nicomachi. The most likely candidates are
the daughter of Senator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
and Nicomachus Flavianus, the son of his colleague and
friend Virius Nicomachus Flavianus, although it has also
been suggested that the panels may instead commemorate
the marriage of Symmachus son, Quintus Fabius Mem-
mius Symmachus with the granddaughter of the afore-
mentioned colleague.[8] Diptychs were often commis-
sioned by leading Roman families to celebrate important
events, most often the attainment of the consulship. The
diptych form, at least originally, served as a pair of covers
2 3 THE LOST ENNOBERTUS DIPTYCH

Abb Fauvels lost Ennobertus panel, engraved in 1719

The London leaf

for wax writing tablets.

The work as a whole has been interpreted as a study in
nostalgia: both style and content reect the values and
from an engraving of 1719,[11] when it was in the collec-
traditions of an era that was rapidly passing. Just as the
majority of the Roman world had rejected polytheism in tion of the abb Fauvel, chaplain to Louis XIV.[12] The
Frankish name Ennobertus inscribed beneath the tem-
favor of Christianity, so too it left behind the techniques
ples pediment is undocumented in the prosopographies.
of proportion and perspective that characterised the art
of its forebears.[10] To those who might have suggested the panel was a
forgery after the Symmachi ivory, Alan Cameron has
asked, Why should he have spoiled his handiwork with
such an uncouth barbarian name?" and suggested that
3 The lost Ennobertus diptych it was a Late Antique ivory, from the same workshop
as the Symmachi diptych, that had been re-engraved in
A strikingly similar composition was to be seen in the Carolingian times, when the prominent blank medallion
Ennobertus ivory panel from a diptych, known now only was cleaned of its former monogram.[13]
 3

4 Notes Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality: late an-

[1] Compare the Poet and Muse diptych of a hundred years
later.
[2] Alan Cameron, A New Late Antique Ivory: The Fau-
vel Panel, American Journal of Archaeology 88.3 (July
1984), pp. 397-402.
tique and early Christian art, third to seventh century,
no. 165-166, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, ISBN 9780870991790; full text avail-
able online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Libraries

[3] Weitzmann, 186.

[4] Kinney, 458; they were engraved for E. Martne and U.

Durand, Voyage littraire de deux religieux Bndictins de
la congregation de S. Maur (Paris, 1717, p. 98, noted in
Cameron 1984, p. 387 note 5, below

[5] Delbruecks view and Adso quotation found in Kinney,

461.

[6] This connection was made by Dale Kenney, The work-

shop of the Trivulzio Master and Roman classicism, c
400 read at Seventh Annual Byzantine Studies Conference:
Abstracts (Boston, 1981) p 55.

[7] Simon, 56.

[8] Weitzmann, 187.

[9] Simon, 58.

[10] Kitzinger, 34.

[11] Bernard de Montfaucon, L'Antiquit explique et represen-

te en gures (Paris, 1719), vol 2.1p. 190.

[12] Cameron 1984.

[13] Cameron 1984 p. 398, 400; the underappreciated Car-

olingian practice of reinscribing antique ivories is exam-
ined by K. Weitzmann, The Heracles plaques of St. Pe-
ters Cathedral, Art Bulletin 55 (1973), pp 25-29.

5 References
Kinney, Dale; Cutler, Anthony (July 1994). A
Late Antique Ivory Plaque and Modern Response.
American Journal of Archaeology (Archaeological
Institute of America) 98 (3): 457472. ISSN 1939-
828X. JSTOR 506439. OCLC 51205117.

Kitzinger, Ernst (1977). Byzantine Art in the Mak-

ing: Main Lines of Stylistic Development in Mediter-
ranean Art 3rd-7th Century. Cambridge, Mas-
sachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-
08956-1.

Simon, Erika (April 1992). The Diptych

of the Symmachi and Nicomachi: An Inter-
pretation. Greece & Rome 39 (1): 5665.
doi:10.1017/S0017383500023986. ISSN 0017-
3835. JSTOR 643120. OCLC 51206579.
4 6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1 Text
SymmachiNicomachi diptych Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SymmachiNicomachi_diptych?oldid=604495352 Contributors:
Michael Hardy, Llywrch, Wetman, Psychonaut, Bloodofox, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Neddyseagoon, Outriggr, Gatoclass, Johnbod, Kafka
Liz, Catalographer, Addbot, Yobot, KamikazeBot, Citation bot, TakenakaN, Citation bot 1, Helpful Pixie Bot, WilliamDigiCol, Monkbot
and Anonymous: 1

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Romulus_and_Remus.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own book scan from Emmanuel Mller-Baden (dir.), Bibliothek des
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