Romanos Ivory

The Romanos Ivory

The Romanos Ivory is an art object from the Byzantine empire. It is a carved ivory relief panel measuring 24.6 cm (at the highest) by 15.5 cm and 1.2 cm thick [parani 17]. The panel is currently residing in the Cabinet des Médailles of Paris. It is known as the Romanos Ivory for its depiction of the emperor Romanos and his wife Eudokia being blessed by Christ. However, there were two imperial couples by this name so this has been the subject of ongoing controversy among scholars. It was first believed to represent Romanos IV and therefore dated between 1068 and 1071. Some contemporary researchers theorize that it represents the earlier Romanos II, changing the date of creation to somewhere between 945 and 949. [cite IOLI].

Romanos IV and Eudokia Makrembolitissa

Until 1926, this panel was assumed to be depicting the coronation and/or marriage of Romanos IV and Eudokia Makrembolitissa. For example, the inscription “Basilis Romaion” over Eudokia’s head; Basilis (and Basillisa) was a title only used by women who were regents for their minor sons, which Eudokia Makrembiolitissa would have been at the time of her marriage to Romanos IV. Furthermore, this term was only used by two other women, both of whom assumed the throne as sole rulers or regents for their sons during their lifetime. It seems unlikely that Bertha-Eudokia would have had any title or powers greater than the senior empress Helena, who would have been referred to as ‘augusta’ and “no instance is known in which the wife of the crown prince was called august or basilis.” [Ioli, 310] There are also no known instances where a wife of a crown prince was portrayed, nor a junior emperor without the senior. [Ioli, 318] The image of this double coronation was also used on seals and the coinage of the realm to both promote Eudokia’s power and legitimize Romanos IV as emperor.

Romanos II and Bertha-Eudokia

Contemporary scholarship on this piece asserts that this work represents the 945 CE Easter coronation of junior emperor Romanos II and his child bride, Bertha (re-named Eudokia on her arrival at court). Furthermore, scholars state that “emperors are always show more or less as they looked”, pointing to the fact that the Romanos depicted on the ivory is beardless, and therefore more likely to be Romanos II, who was only six by the time of his coronation in 945 CE. In contrast, the later Romanos IV would have been about 30 and had a full beard. There is also some allusion to the Eudokia figure’s ‘child-like features’ [cutler, 607]. This interpretation is notable since Bertha-Eudokia would have been 5 a the time of coronation, while Eudokia Makrembolitissa had borne five children before marrying Romanos IV. Costuming of the couple also favors the Romanos II theory, as Romanos is shown wearing a loros while Eudokia wears a chlamys, signifying she is subordinate in rank to the senior empress, Helena. [Pariani 21] It is therefore assumed that this is the only surviving imperial portrait where Christ is crowning a junior emperor and empress.

Supplementary Arguments

Some scholarship links the style of the Romanos Ivory to other surviving works of art that are more fixedly dated in the 10th century. An ivory plaque ordered as part of an epistolary by Sigebert, bishop of Minden (1022-1036) is part of such a group, and Cutler states “if… the central portion of the triptych that had arrived in the west before the death of Sigebert of Minden in 1036, it follows that the Romanos ivory could not have been made in the second half of the 11th century.” [Cutler, 10]. This claim also fits with other assertions that metal and steatite [link] were favored over ivory as a medium by in the 11th century [cormack 136].

However, others note that the ivory more stylistically resembles other works dated in the second half of the 11th century such as the Harbaville plaque and at least to other Byzantine era triptychs, while noting the 10th century mode of carving was more flat and use less undercutting than seen on the Romanos Ivory. Facial types and other details also draw parallels to works created at this time. [Iloi, 322-23]

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