Panels from an Ivory Casket with the Story of Adam and Eve, 900-1100

Panels from an Ivory Casket with the Story of Adam and Eve

Constantinople (?), 900-1100
Ivory
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 17.190.138.139

In Genesis 3:17 God tells Adam, "cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life." These images present the diversity of tasks that they must master in order to fulfil this command. In the upper panel Adam harvests wheat with a scythe and Eve carries a cut sheaf on her shoulders. In the lower panel Eve operates the bellows of a forge while Adam uses a hammer and anvil to work an iron object. Both panels label Adam and Eve with their Greek names.

The museum's page for these ivories has a bibliography of works on Byzantine ivories of this period. As of 2019-05-08 its url was https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464020 .

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Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.