3D model of the ivory comb © Benaki Museum | Factum Foundation
George Manginis, Academic Director of the Benaki, describes the object:
“The transition from the empire of Rome to the empire of Constantinople could be said to have happened with the designation of Constantinople as the new capital of the empire in 330, but institutions continued, attitudes were slow to change and the prestige enjoyed by the old capital persisted even after its sacks in 390, 410, 455, 546 and 549–550 – all predating or close to the date of manufacture of this carved ivory. On one side, the venerable city of Latium is represented by the goddess Roma, wearing a helmet and holding a spear and a globe under a canopy; on the other side, ‘New Rome on the Bosporus’, as Constantinople was also called, sits on a throne under a baldachin crowned with the turrets of its formidable walls and holding a torch and a cornucopia – she is depicted as the city’s tutelary deity, Fortuna or Tyche. The posture and dress of these figures, as well as their being carved on a rectangular ivory plaque, bring to mind the most popular category of luxury ivories, the consular diptychs, offered by consuls (high-ranking civic officials) to persons of favour. The institution of the consulate was created by the Roman Republic in 509 BCE and survived, arguably with greatly diminished powers, into the ninth century CE. The old and the new were joined in a continuum of imperial power, eloquently illustrated on the two sides of this comb.”
