A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c17.26

c17.26

The most striking illustration of the close resemblance between the Mathurā presentation of the Woman and Tree motive and the Copto-Alexandrian form is found in an unexpected place, the cathedral of Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle in Rhenish Prussia. Six remarkable ivory panels on the sides of the cathedral pulpit have been examined in a special disquisition by M. Strzygowski, who has proved to my satisfaction that the Aachen ivories are of Egyptian origin, and should be considered as examples of the Copto-Alexandrian school. They may have reached their resting-place by way of either Ravenna and Milan or Marseilles.¹