DIPTYCH: NICOMACHI AND SYMMACHI

392-401 AD

http://slides-www.ucsc.edu/subjects/dbms.acgi$detail?54492, Slide Detail:

Main Entry	Early Christian
Title	Nicomachi and Symmachi Diptych. Right panel
Title Part	Priestess of Bacchus before altar of Jupiter
Date	392 or 401

http://166.109.159.22/dedrickd/themes/echr8.htm, Early Christian Art, “Luxury Arts”:

Priestess celebrating the rites of Bacchus, c.380-400. Right leaf of the Diptych of the Nicomachi and the Symmachi:

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tart/fall2003arth280website/earlychristian.html, The History of Art Survey: Lecture 16: Early Christian Art:

22 Priestess celebrating the rites of Bacchus, right leaf of
Diptych of the Nicomachi and the Symmachi, c400, 1’
Even after Theodosius closed all non-Christian temples and banned all non-Christian cults in 391, imagery from those traditions continued, as Christian had before it was made legal. Here is half of a diptych celebrating the marriage of two wealthy, senatorial families. This is a low relief depiction of a traditional Roman sacrifice, by a priestess at an altar of Bacchus, before a sacred oak of Jupiter.

Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph, Elsner, 1998, p. 190, illustration 127, “Ivory leaf from a diptych issued in the names of the Symmachi and Nicomachi families, Rome, last or penultimate decade of the fourth century AD”:

P. 191:

The Decline of Rome, Vogt, 1967 (translated from German), p. 302, “Cultural Change Reflected in Art”:

Illustration 83, “Decorative Arts in the Late Empire”:

http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rlokay/British/page10.html, Priestess of Bacchus:

C. 390-401 A famous ivory diptych documents the realtionship of particians Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and Virius Nicomachus Flavianus and their anti-Christian ways. It is a revival piece of classic culture. It commemorates the marriage of the two families. This one is inscibed, "Symmachorum" with a elaborately dressed priest makes an offer to an elaborate altar. Extremely skilled Roman ivory carvers were commissioned by Pagans and Christians both. The folds and wrinkles with the foliage is reminiscent of earlier works.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05022a.htm (Catholic Encyclopedia), Diptych:

In the fourth and fifth centuries a distinction arose between profane and ecclesiastical (liturgical) diptychs, the former being frequently given as presents by high-placed persons. … The most beautiful of the profane diptychs was carved at the time of a marriage between the Symmachi and the Nicomachi (392 to 394, or 401).

http://dannybornt.tripod.com/art_history/late_antique.html, Early Christian Art, “Early Christian A. D. 29 – 527”:

Priestess celebrating the rites of Bacchus, right leaf of the Diptych of the Nicomachi & the Symmachi, Ivory, 11 3/4” x 5 1/2” ca. 400

http://www.web.virginia.edu/artemis/artgus/showstudents.cfm?lectureid=396 (University of Virginia), Constantinople & the Eastern Empire:

IVORY:4 C:EARLY CHRISTIAN. Diptych/Nicomachi & Symmachi, R. side: Priestess/Bacchus. Ca. 390-400.

http://faculty.hope.edu/educ/specialty/fineartsgroup/syll/art109.pdf (Hope College), Art from Prehistory to Post-Medieval: a Critical History, “Early Christian and Constantinian Art”:

Priestess celebrating the Rites of Bacchus, leaf of the Nicomachi and Symmachi Diptych, c. 400

http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/ArtSurvey/artsurvey/lecnotes/lnpo30.htm, EARLY CHRISTIAN: When the Emperor becomes Christian, Christ becomes a king:

Diptych of the Symmachi and Nicomachi, Priestess of Bacchus,c. 380 - 400

Both panels:

Early Christian Art: AD 200-395: From the Rise of Christianity to the Death of Theodosius, André Grabar, 1968, p. 150, “3. The Art of the Fourth Century | Pagan Monuments”:

P. 153, “3. The Art of the Fourth Century | Pagan Monuments | 157.  Rome.  Diptych of the Nicomachi and Symmachi”:

http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth212/pagan_christian.html, Pagan and Christian at the End of the Fourth Century:

The left panel now in the Musée de Cluny in Paris show a priestess dedicated to the cults of Ceres and Cybele, while the right panel now in the Victoria Albert Museum in London shows a priestess making an offering dedicated to Bacchus and Jupiter. It is likely that the diptych was made to celebrate the marriage of members of these two prominent Roman Senatorial families.

Early Christian Art, W. F. Volbach, 1961, plate 90, “Paris, Cluny Museum. Ivory diptych of the Nicomachi and Symmachi, end of IVth century. Left panel: Ceres-priestess before the altar of Cybele”:

Plate 91, “London, Victoria and Albert Museum. Ivory diptych of the Nicomachi and Symmachi, end of IVth century. Right panel: Bacchus-priestess with handmaid before altar”:

Epiphanius: Panarion 26.4-5 tells that married Christians were involved in ritual Christian orgies.

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