Plaque of St. John the Baptist

Panel depicting St. John the Baptist. The figure of St. John the Baptist (including his footstool and a section of the lower frame) has been mounted on an ivory background and frame, presumably in the 18th or 19th century. The inscritpion on the scroll has traces of red. John the Baptist, in long tunic with decorated belt, a cloak of skins and sandals, gestures with his right hand, holding in his left a scroll. The figure has been cut from its original background to be seen free-standing. The elegantly-inscribed scroll is unique in the corpus of Byzantine ivories; the script is mid-11th century at the latest.