Ivory Box with Scenes of Adam and Eve (1000–1100s): Art, History and Details

Ivory Box with Scenes of Adam and Eve (1000–1100s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Scenes from the Old Testament stories of Adam and Eve and their children, Cain and Abel, decorate this box, which may have been made to contain jewelry or small valuables. On its lid two plaques depict the creation of Adam and the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib. Two further plaques depict Cain slaying Abel: Cain throws a stone in the direction of Abel, who is hit by stones in the hip, chest, and head.

Object facts

• Title: Ivory Box with Scenes of Adam and Eve
• Date: 1000–1100s
• Culture: Byzantium, Constantinople, Byzantine period
• Type: Ivory
• Technique: ivory, wood
• Dimensions: Overall: 14.3 x 46.7 x 20.3 cm (5 5/8 x 18 3/8 x 8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Byzantine
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1924.747

A detail from the museum

Carved out of imported ivory by skilled craftsmen, boxes such as these were used by Byzantine elites to store luxury goods such as jewelry.

Collection credit

Gift of W. G. Mather, F. F. Prentiss, John L. Severance, J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Graeven, Hans. “Adamo ed Eva sui Cofanetti d’Avorio Bizantini.” L’Arte, 2 (1899): 297-315.
• Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell'arte italiana. Milano: U. Hoepli, 1901.
• Musées royaux d'art et d'histoire (Belgium), and Joseph Destrée. Catalogue des ivoires, des objets en nacre en os gravé et en cire peinte. Bruxelles: Bruyland, 1902.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.