Magdeburg Ivories
Set of 17 ivory panels illustrating episodes of Christ's life / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Magdeburg Ivories are a set of 16 surviving ivory panels illustrating episodes of Christ's life. They were commissioned by Emperor Otto I, probably to mark the dedication of Magdeburg Cathedral, and the raising of the Magdeburg see to an archbishopric in 968.[1] The panels were initially part of an unknown object in the cathedral that has been variously conjectured to be an antependium or altar front, a throne, door, pulpit, or an ambon; traditionally this conjectural object, and therefore the ivories as a group, has been called the Magdeburg Antependium. This object is believed to have been dismantled or destroyed in the 1000s, perhaps after a fire in 1049.[2]
They are often assumed to have been made in Milan, then an important political and artistic center of the Holy Roman Empire;[3] art historian Peter Lasko, however, has argued on stylistic grounds for artists trained in the Lorraine area, possibly in Metz.[4] The group of plaques is widely considered a key example of Ottonian art,[5] exemplifying in sculpture the Ottonian style that survives more often in manuscript illustrations.