# The Symmachi panel [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [EARLY CHRISTIAN SCULPTOR, Italian]() - Date: 0351-0400 - Technique: Ivory, 30 x 12 cm ## Commentary A priestess, her head bound with ivy \(the plant of Bacchus\), standing beneath an oak tree \(sacred to Jupiter\), takes some corns of incense to sprinkle on the fire of an altar. A boy behind the altar holds a wine jar and a bowl of fruit or nuts and a two handled vase. At the top the panel bears the name 'Symmachorum'. The damaged border is of delicately carved anthemion ornament. This panel formed originally the right part of a diptych. The other part - much damaged - is now in the Musée de la Moyen Âge in Paris and depicts a similar figure making an offering before an altar and the inscription 'Nicomachorum'. It is generally thought that the diptych was made to celebrate a marriage, either in 393/4 or 401, between members of the Symmachi and Nicomacchi families. It could also signify these noble families' adherence to the ancient cults. Both panels are of particular significance as members of the old senatorial families in Rome revived the pagan religion at the end of the fourth century, and had chosen an historicist neo-attic style. This is shown in the statuesque elegance and cold purity of the carving which creates the illusion of depth. ## Related artworks - [Adam in Paradise]() - [Capital]() - [Christ as the Teacher \(Cristo docente\)]() - [Christ as the Teacher \(Cristo docente\)]() - [Diptych]() - ["Dogmatic" sarcophagus]() - ["Dogmatic" sarcophagus]() - [Figure of a Prophet]() - [Front panel of a sarcophagus]() - [Martyrdom of St Achilleus]() - [Sarcophagus of 'Chaste Susanna' \(detail\)]() - [Sarcophagus of 'Chaste Susanna']() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()