Early Byzantine, 6th century; ivory; 7.5 × 6 × 2.5 (2 15/16 × 2 3/8 × 1 in.). BZ.1948.15
In Greek and Roman mythology, Hygieia is the goddess of healing. She shares this role with her father Asklepios, god of medicine. The lid slides off this ivory case to reveal a series of channels which may have been used to store medicine.
Provenance
- Charles Ratton, Paris (1895–1986); purchased from Ratton by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC, September 1948.
Selected Bibliography
- K. Weitzmann, Ivories and Steatites, vol. 3 of Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection (Washington, DC, 1972), 22, no. 10, plate 10.
- A. Cutler, The Craft of Ivory: Sources, Techniques, and Uses in the Mediterranean World, A.D. 200–1400 (Washington, DC, 1985), 26, 52, 53, fig. 26.
- I. Kalavrezou and A. E. Laiou, Byzantine Women and Their World (Cambridge, MA, 2003), 282, no. 164.
More Exhibit Items
Statuette of Mars
Late Roman, late 4th–5th century; ivory; 8.8 × 4.7 × 1.6 cm (3 7/16 × 1 7/8 × 5/8 in.). BZ.1938.63
Case with Hygieia
Early Byzantine, 6th century; ivory; 7.5 × 6 × 2.5 (2 15/16 × 2 3/8 × 1 in.). BZ.1948.15