Late Roman, 4th century; bone; 7.9 × 5.6 cm (3 1/8 × 2 3/16 in.). BZ.1945.5
Classical preference for idealized bodies was not limited to perfectly proportioned forms. In this plaque, the combination of a hermaphrodite and leopard may have excited the imagination in evoking the exotic and unfamiliar.
Provenance
- Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, before 1945; purchased by Edith Stanton Newberry (1870–1956), Detroit, Michigan, November 1945; gifted by Newberry to Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC, November 1945.
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), 15–16, no. 6, plate 7.
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
Cult Scene
Roman, 2nd century; ivory; 20.3 × 11.5 × 1.1 cm (8 × 4 1/2 × 7/16 in.). BZ.1942.1
Incised Plaque with Hermaphrodite and Leopard
Late Roman, 4th century; bone; 7.9 × 5.6 cm (3 1/8 × 2 3/16 in.). BZ.1945.5
Knife Handle with Dionysos
Late Roman, 4th century; bone, bronze, iron; 9.5 × 4.5 cm (3 3/4 × 1 3/4 in.). BZ.1969.11