The Five Saints on the front panel are of noble design and most carefully carved, but lacking in spontaneity. Each stands under the familiar round arch, and the scallop shell is arranged as a kind of halo behind each head.
The grand figure of John the Baptist stands in the middle of the Four Evangelists, among whom we are tempted to recognize St. Peter and St. Paul, but this resemblance is probably owing to the artist’s poverty of types. Above, in the border, flanked by two peacocks of evident Syrian origin, is the monogram of the saint, which reads
Maximianus episcopus.
The plaques on the side panels deal with the life of Joseph, and those on the back have scenes from the life of Christ. The latter were twenty-four in number, but only seven remain, four inside and three out. Some of these are carved on each side, and all are bordered with a narrow and much debased Greek bead and lozenge moulding, which is an additional help in the identification of the straying pieces. One of these lost plaques is now in the collection of Count Stroganoff at Rome; it represents on one side “the Entry into Jerusalem,” and on the other “the Nativity,” with an additional incident in the withering of the hand of the incredulous attendant, Salome, which is recounted in the apocryphal gospels. The type of Joseph in this scene is just the low-browed, bullet-headed type of the Greek wrestler, and must have been borrowed from some ancient sculpture.
L. RICCI PHOTO.][CATHEDRAL, RAVENNA
13. PANEL FROM THE THRONE OF MAXIMIAN
Italo-Byzantine, sixth century
In the scene of the Annunciation the Virgin sits in a high-backed chair of basket-work, just like that on the Bargello pyx, with the Visit of the Magi. She is spinning, as described in the apocryphal gospels, and beside her stands a basket for her wool.
The plaque, with the Virgin riding on an ass, is not the flight into Egypt, but the journey to Bethlehem just before the Child was born, and the languid attitude of the Virgin as she leans in weakness on the shoulder of Joseph, is rendered with much feeling.
The Baptism of Christ is peculiarly interesting as it gives an insight into the early types of this subject. The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove flies headlong downwards, and Christ is represented as a little naked child, and beside him, leaning on an urn is the personification of the River Jordan. Another remnant of pagan tradition is found in the winged and bearded genius of Sleep, who stands by Pharaoh’s couch in the “Dream Scene.” This figure also appears on a plaque in the Early Christian Room at the British Museum, which is decorated with scenes from the life of Christ, the strange bearded angel being present at the baptism. There is a very interesting ivory in the same room, a pyx representing the Martyrdom of St. Menas, which has another peculiarity in common with the carvings on the Throne, in the elaborate and curiously embroidered blouse worn by the executioner, which is like that worn by Joseph in the house of Potiphar.