Veroli casket

The Veroli casket is an ivory and metal casket, made in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the late tenth or early eleventh century, and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It is thought to have been made for a person close to the Imperial Court of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and may have been used to hold scent bottles or jewellery. It was later kept in the Cathedral Treasury at Veroli, south east of Rome, until 1861

The casket is made of carved ivory panels showing scenes from classical mythology. On the lid is a depiction of the Rape of Europa. On the front are scenes from the stories of Bellerophon and Iphigenia. On the back is part of a dionysiac procession, with two figures identified as Mars, god of war (the Greek Ares), and Venus, goddess of love (the Greek Aphrodite). The ends bear scenes of Bacchus, god of wine (the Greek Dionysius), in a chariot drawn by panthers, and a nymph riding a seahorse.

As the Empire had been Christianised for centuries, these pagan motifs presumably represent a revived taste for classical style and imagery.

Bibliography

Jackson, Anna (ed.) V&A: A Hundred Highlights (V&A Publications, 2001)