Diptych of  Console Flavio Pietro Sabbazio Giustiniano

An ivory diptych was a very precious object consisting of a pair of carved, decorated ivory tablets, joined by a metal hinge, like a book. This object spread throughout the Roman world in the 5th and 6th centuries as a gift from consuls to their supporters when they were elected. Inside were engraved words of thanks and outside, more or less elaborate figures and inscriptions celebrated the newly elected consul. The inscription identifies this diptych as that of Justinian, who was appointed consul in 521 and emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire from 527 to 565. On each valve are four tondi of leaves worked in relief from which protrude a lion’s head. In the centre there is a large rosette formed of 38 stylised palmettes. Inside this is the inscription, begun and ended by a cross, which constitutes explicit thanks to the senators. The text reads from the frontal valve (when the diptych is open, the right-hand one) to the posterior valve (the left-hand one). The complexity of the decoration, which denotes its provenance from a high-level workshop, is the same as that of the two other diptychs of Justinian, now in Paris. The diptych is from the collection of the Trivulzio family in Milan and came into the civic collections through purchase in 1935.