namel. The cover, which is only about 41/2 by 3 ins., has in the
centre a crucifixion with St Mary and St John to the right and left, while
around are busts of the apostles. Christ is vested in a tunic. The ground
colour is the green of emerald, the rest mostly blue and white. The
cloisons are of gold. Two other Byzantine enamels are in the permanent
collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum: one is a cross with the
crucifixion on a background of the same emerald enamel; the other is a
small head of St Paul of remarkably fine workmanship.

Ivory-working was another characteristic Byzantine art, although, like so
many others it had its origin in antiquity. One of the earliest ivories of
the Byzantine type is the diptych at Monza, showing a princess and a boy,
supposed to be Galla Placidia and Valentinian III. This already shows the
broad, flattened treatment which seems to mark the ivory work of the East.
The majestic archangel of the British Museum, one of the largest panels
known, is probably of the 5th century, and almost certainly, as Strzygowski
has shown, of Syrian origin. Design and execution are equally fine. The
drawing of the body, and the modelling of the drapery, are accomplished and
classical. Only the full front pose, the balanced disposition of the large
wings, and the intense outlook of the face, give it the Byzantine type.

Ivory, like gold-work and enamel, was pressed into the adornment of
architectural works. The ambo erected by Justinian at St Sophia was in part
covered by ivory panels set into the marble. The best existing specimen of
this kind of work is the celebrated ivory throne at Ravenna. This
masterpiece, which resembles a large, high-backed chair, is entirely
covered with sculptured ivory, delicate carvings of scriptural subjects and
ornament. It is of the 6th century and bears the monogram of Bishop
Maximian. It is probably of Egyptian or Syrian origin.

So many fragments of ivories have been discovered in recent explorations in
Egypt that it is most likely that Alexandria, a fit centre for receiving
the material, was also its centre of distribution. The weaving of patterned
silks was known in Europe in the classical age, and they reached great
development in the Byzantine era. A fragment, long ago figured by Semper,
showing a classical design of a nereid on a sea-horse, is so like the
designs found on many ivories discovered in Egypt that we may probably
assign it to Alexandria. Such fab