Manuscript of Dionysius the Areopagite in a Binding with Two Ivory Leaves of a Passion Diptych
Unknown · Ivories 1370-1400; manuscript 1403-1405; binding c. 1400, altered in the seventeenth century
A Greek manuscript and a French ivory diptych have been joined into one object. On each board of the binding, in silver mounts with gems on velvet, is one leaf of a Parisian ivory diptych of the Passion carved between thirteen seventy and fourteen hundred, each divided into three registers under trefoil arches. Read from the top left: the Entry into Jerusalem, the Arrest of Christ; the Agony in the Garden, the Flagellation and the Crucifixion; then the Descent from the Cross, the Entombment, the Holy Women at the tomb and Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene. The leaves now face opposite ways, so the original reading order is broken.
Inside is the complete works of Dionysius the Areopagite, copied in Constantinople in fourteen hundred and three to fourteen hundred and five. Emperor Manuel the Second Palaiologos sent it to Saint-Denis in fourteen hundred and eight through his envoy Manuel Chrysoloras; the abbey identified its patron saint with Dionysius, which made the text doubly precious. The binding, recorded on another manuscript in sixteen thirty four, was moved onto this one by sixteen fifty five. Both came to the museum on the fifth of December seventeen ninety three.
Did You Know? A Byzantine emperor sent the book as a diplomatic gift while seeking Western help against the Ottomans, and the abbey dressed it in a Parisian ivory cover.
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