ds for ecclesiastical
purposes, show signs of having had the Consular inscription erased,
and the wax removed, while Christian sentiments were written or
incised within the book itself. Parts of the service were also
occasionally transcribed on diptychs. In Milan the Rites contain
these passages: "The lesson ended, a scholar, vested in a surplice,
takes the ivory tablets from the altar or ambo, and ascends the
pulpit;" and in another place a similar allusion occurs: "When the
Deacon chants the Alleluia, the key bearer for the week hands the
ivory tablets to him at the exit of the choir."

Anastatius, in his Life of Pope Agatho, tells of a form of posthumous
excommunication which was sometimes practised: "They took away from
the diptychs... wherever it could be done, the names and figures
of these patriarchs, Cyrus, Sergius, Paul, Pyrrhus, and Peter,
through whom error had been brought among the orthodox."

Among ivory carvings in Carlovingian times may be
cited a casket with ornamental colonettes sent by Eginhard to his
son. In 823, Louis le Debonaire owned a statuette, a diptych, and
a coffer, while in 845 the Archbishop of Rheims placed an order
for ivory book covers, for the works of St. Jerome, a Lectionary,
and other works.

The largest and best known ivory carving of the middle ages is
the throne of Maximian, Archbishop of Ravenna. This entire chair,
with an arched back and arms, is composed of ivory in intricately
carved plaques. It is considerably over three feet in height, and is
a superb example of the best art of the sixth century. Photographs
and reproductions of it may be seen in most works dealing with
this subject. Scenes from Scripture are set all over it, divided
by charming meanders of deeply cut vine motives. Some authorities
consider the figures inferior to the other decorations: of course
in any delineation of the human form, the archaic element is more
keenly felt than when it appears in foliate forms or conventional
patterns. Diptychs being often taken in considerable numbers and
set into large works of ivory, has led some authorities to suppose
that the Ravenna throne was made of such a collection; but this
is contradicted by Passeri in 1759, who alludes to the panels in
the following terms: "They might readily be taken by the ignorant
for diptychs.... This they are not, for they cannot be taken from
the consular diptychs which had their own ornamentation, referring
to the consultate and the