21.3. Sarcophagi, Gems, and the Symbols of Christianity
Two more most famous sarcophagi must be spoken of — those of the Empress Helena and of Santa Costanza. Both are of royal porphyry with sculptures in high relief, and they are now in the Vatican. That of the Empress is sculptured with a military triumph, that of Costanza with amorini and the vintage, peacocks, and lambs. With the latter Strzygowski has lately compared fragments of other porphyry sarcophagi at C onstantinople and Alexandria, and has shewn that they must all have come from Egypt, the land of the porphyry quarries and the place of origin of other porphyry sculptures such as the well-known group at the south-west corner of St Mark's, Venice.
A class of objects which dates from the time of the catacombs, if not from the apostolic age, is that of engraved gems. Of these the British Museum has a good representative collection. "The use of rings as signets or ornaments was as widely spread among the early Christians as among their Pagan contemporaries. St James speaks of the man who wears a gold ring and goodly apparel, and the Fathers of the Church were obliged to reprimand the community for extravagance in this respect." The devices engraved on these gems are for the most part of a simple symbolic character as befits the small field which they occupy.
In the British Museum collection we have anchors and fish, doves and trees, sheep, branches of olive and palm, shepherds' crooks, ships, sacred monograms, the word IXOYC, and the inscription Vivas in Deo. Of more pictorial subjects we have the Good Shepherd bearing the sheep, Adam and Eve, Daniel, Jonah, and the Crucifixion. Two are especially important. One of them contains quite a collection of the favourite subjects brought together on its narrow space. The Good Shepherd with the sheep, Daniel and the lions, the dove with the olive branch, and the story of Jonah, as well as two trees, fish, a star, and a monogram. The other is probably the earliest representation of the Crucifixion known, and must date from the third century at latest.
On either side of the Crucified Christ are six much smaller figures, the apostles, and above is the word IXOYC. M. Brehier in Les Origines du Crucifix (1904) suggests that the representation was of Syrian origin and arose in opposition to merely symbolical interpretations. At South Kensington there are several Early Christian, Gnostic, and Byzantine rings, some of which are of importance. One is a ship with the XP monogram on its sail, another has two saints embracing, probably the Visitation. Another has a symbolic composition engraved on silver which has been figured by Garrucci and others. Later writers copy it from Garrucci and seem not to know of its being preserved now at South Kensington. From a pillar resting on a pyramid of steps spring brandies of foliage above which, in a circle, is a Lamb with the XP monogram. Below the branches stand two sheep, and two doves fly toward the tree. It is inscribed IANVARI VIVAS.
The elementary symbols which are found on the engraved rings and all the other objects of art arc so direct and simple, as has been said, that they are still perfectly obvious and modern. We have the anchor, cross, crook, ship, lighthouse, fish, and star; the dove, lamb, drinking harts, palms and olive branches, trees, baskets of fruit, lamps and candles, chalice, amphora, bowl of milk; the vintage, harvest, sowing, and fishing; the shepherd, the orantes, Eros and Psyche; the Heavenly Sanctuary, the Celestial Banquet, and Garden of Paradise. Out of this alphabet ideas were built up by combination. Thus we have a ship with a crossmost, and the sacred monogram on its sails; another ship on a stormy sea approaching a light-house; still another ship made fast to land, bearing vessels of wine and with a dove holding a branch of olive perched on the rigging. Or we have a Lamb lying at the foot of the Cross, or another caressing an axe. There are combined anchors and crosses, flowering crosses, crosses with birds perched on their arms, amid crosses rising from a mound from which flow four rivers.
Larger objects in metal work must be mentioned, if only that attention may be drawn to the celebrated Casket of Projecta and the excellent collection of bronze candlesticks and hanging lamps at the British Museum. The silver toilet casket is entirely Pagan in style. On the top are the portraits of a husband and bride in a wreath supported by Cupids. On the front is embossed the Toilet of Venus and a lady seated between handmaids who bring to her articles of the toilet. At the ends are nereids; and the smaller spaces are filled by peacocks, doves, and baskets of fruit. The most interesting subject is that on the back, where the bride is being led to her new home, a house, of two stories covered above by several domes. The inscription, which is in letters pricked on the plain border, is the only Christian thing about the work, and it is possible, as in the case of some of the sarcophagi with Pagan subjects, that it was shop work, and that the inscription was added for the purchaser. There are many indications that it was made in Alexandria.
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