S. Vitale, newly finished and decorated with the celebrated mosaic portraits of Justinian and Theodora, was consecrated by St. Maximian himself, who is pictured on the walls by the side of the Emperor. Yet, in spite of all this encouragement, art, and sculpture in particular, had already commenced that steady decline to the period of comparative stagnation which, as Professor Krumbacher, the well-known Byzantine scholar, says, affected not only art but literature, and lasted nearly two hundred years, from about 650 to 850. The decline can be traced in the mosaics at Ravenna; those in S. Vitale are not so good as those in the tomb of Galla Placidia, while the decoration of the Baptistery is the most ancient and the best. The Throne is most precious as an exception, showing really artistic work in a period when originality was rare. The height is one yard fourteen inches, the seat being flanked by two panels rising above it and forming the arms; the front is entirely filled in by the large panel with five saints, the back is high and semi-circular, the top being arched. At the junction of the side panels, with the front and back, are upright posts, which form the feet, and rising slightly above the level of the panels are capped by flattened balls; these, and the strips of ivory which divide the back into little scenes, are carved with the most decorative vine scrolls, growing out of vases of classical shape, and peopled with a whole world of animals leaping in and out amid the leaves and bunches of grapes. These borders show real progress and the adoption of new oriental ideas. The animated scroll work is often found on the Eastern textiles of this period, which must have formed objects of constant trade. The Koptic tombs on the Nile Delta[11] have yielded a numerous collection of contemporary textiles with beautifully woven patterns in much the same style. The vine from being a popular pagan decoration became closely connected with the Christian religion. The carving of the wide borders on the back, if rather summary, attains the largeness of treatment as of sculpture in marble. The actual manual work on the Throne varies somewhat, and is probably the work of different artizans, Byzantine or Italian, but there can be little doubt that the whole was the work of one master mind. The Five Saints on the front panel are of noble design and most carefully carved, but lacking in spontaneity. Each stands under the familiar round arch, and the scallop shell is arranged as a kind of halo behind each head. The grand figure of John the Baptist stands in the middle of the Four Evangelists, among whom we are tempted to recognize St. Peter and St. Paul, but this resemblance is probably owing to the artist’s poverty of types. Above, in the border, flanked by two peacocks of evident Syrian origin, is the monogram of the saint, which reads _Maximianus episcopus_.