Book Cover with Ivory Plaque in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2008

Byzantine ivories were highly prized in the West, where most survived in church treasuries or were incorporated into deluxe book bindings. The ivory from the panel on the right originally formed the center of a Byzantine three-paneled icon. It may have been one of the many gifts of the Monastery of Santa Cruz de los Seros, which was founded by Queen Felicia, wife of Sancho V Ramirez (r. 1076-94), king of Aragon and Navarre. The other cover is inscribed with her name, below the ivory crucifix, and also includes an Islamic sapphire seal.


Book cover (?) with Ivory Plaque
Gilded silver on wood backing, inset with sapphire, glass, and crystal
From the Monastery of Santa Cruz de los Seros, Jaca, northeastern Spain
Setting made before 1085; ivory carved about 1000 in Constantinople

Accession # 17.190.134

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.