ASPECTE ALE ARTEI PALEOCREŞTINE: SCULPTURA ÎN OS ŞI FILDEŞ
PALEOCHRISTIAN ART ASPECTS: SCULPTURE IN BONE AND IVORY

Summary/Abstract: PaleoChristian Art Aspects: Sculpture in Bone AND Ivory. The present study aims to treat the morphology of objects worked in ivory and bone, objects used in the Christian period time between the ages II-VI A.C. By Christian objects we refer on one hand – to objects for personal use with specific themes and Christian symbols, and objects of ecclesial liturgical use on the other hand. Due to the material and technique used, the art sculpture in ivory and bone makes part of the more general term „miniature arts”. We therefore have to do with an art closely related to the aesthetic and the organization of a compositional area in an aesthetic perspective that serves to introduce the subject carved in a framework governed by the laws of harmony. The study desires to show a chronological presentation of the main stages in the art sculpture in ivory and bone within the Christian culture, as well as the recognition of the evolution of this art, which has been evolving naturally from the use of small objects for personal use (which presented incisions or miniature sculptures of Christian symbols, or „enchristianed” representations), to the takeover of ivory objects from the Greco-Roman habitat, specific to this environment – as diptychs, triptychs and pyxides, along with some individual plates. Also Christians have revalued the materials and motifs used in art through the prism of the religion to which they belonged to: Christianity. Thus bone and ivory do not actually have a magic value in themselves, as in the old Neolithic religions. In particular ivory is valued through its practical qualities as color, compositional field, form and structure language of symbols and motifs taken from the „enchristianed” Greek and Roman refined art, process that was in the development stage in that period of time. As a consequence we can talk on VIth century about artistic motifs specific to Christianity, which lay at the base of Byzantine and Carolingian art in the later times.

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