Barberini Ivory - Owners

Owners

The reverse of the object is flat and smooth, without the depression for wax which would be found on a consular diptych, which would be used as a writing tablet. Nevertheless, it is streaked with lines engraved later over older ink inscriptions – it includes a list of names (prayers for the dead), among whom can be seen the kings of Austrasia and other names, mostly Latin ones. Onomastics shows that the list comes from Auvergne and not from Provence as has been thought from the location of the object in the modern era. The inscriptions also date to the 7th century (maybe around 613) and show that the work was brought to Gaul early in its life.

The ivory's history between then and 1625 is unknown – in that year it was offered by the leading antiquary Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc to the Papal legate Cardinal Francesco Barberini in Aix-en-Provence, becoming part of the Barberini collection in Rome. Peiresc mentions it specifically in a letter to his friend Palamède de Vallavez, dated 29 October 1625:

... was pleased to see an ancient ivory bas-relief which I recovered a little earlier, where is represented the emperor Heraclius on horseback, with borders bearing a cross and his son Constantine carrying a Victory and many captive provinces beneath his feet, like that of the Grand 'Camayeul' of Tiberius. I gave it to him as he left (...) he had several similar pieces in the same manner in ivory, with which would go well.

We can very probably find confirmation of it being in the Barberini collection through a mention of an ivory representing Constantine in the inventory of sculptures in the possession of Francesco Barberini between 1626 and 1631. It was acquired by the Louvre in 1899 and has since then been in the département des objets d'art (inventory number OA 9063).