Occasionally the position of the patriarch is slightly altered, as in [Fig. 65], from the Catacomb of St. Priscilla;
but this is all the variety of treatment of which the artistic genius of the age seemed capable.
In the bas reliefs the treatment of this subject exhibits a still greater degree of degradation and constraint, as in the following examples from Christian sarcophagi of the fourth century.
Sometimes the figure ludicrously resembles the toy called “Jack in a box,” which resemblance is heightened by the lid being half open and a lock being carved on the front.
Fig. 66.—Noah in the Ark.
This rude representation, however, was regarded, in accordance with the exposition of St. Peter,[482] as a symbol
of Christian baptism; while the ark was the figure of Christ’s church, in which believers “may so pass the waves of this troublesome world that finally they may come to the land of everlasting life.” The dove and olive branch may further imply, that the weary soul, being justified by faith, found peace with God and entered into endless rest.[483]