The Met's Prayer Bead Is About Prophesy

While researching The Met’s site for images of the Queen of Sheba I came across what they entitle: Prayer Bead with the Queen of Sheba Visiting King Solomon and the Adoration of the Magi a two inch, when closed, boxwood sphere. It is described as:

 

The stories paired here both concern rulers coming from exotic and faraway places to honor a greater king. To emphasize the similarity of the narratives, the carver has deliberately drawn visual parallels between them. Though the inscription ringing the outside of the carving mentions the train of camels that the Queen of Sheba brought, they are nowhere in sight when the bead is opened. Rather the action is indoors, with the queen and two other women offering gifts, just like the three Wise Men in the scene below. The small dog under the table in the lower bead is typical of the small details that the artist inserts to enrich the scene.

 

I would argue The Met has missed a trick here.

 

This extraordinary piece is not just about pairing images of rulers honouring a great king , it is not just about emphasizing similarities. It is about prophesy. Prophesy fulfilled in Jesus as king of the Jews.  The Old Testament king of the Jews – Solomon - being honoured prophesying the New Testament king of the Jews – Jesus. 

 

The Queen of Sheba visit in the Old Testament is seen as anticipating the Three Kings visit in New Testament. This prophesy is seen in 14^th century Biblia pauperum so called Paupers’ Bibles such as the example below, from the British Library’s collection.

Miniature of Abner visiting King David; miniature of the Adoration of the Magi; 

the miniature of the Queen of Sheba presenting gifts to Solomon, Northern Netherlands 

(The Hague?), c 1395-1400, Kings MS 5, f. 3r

Old Testament	New Testament	Old Testament
Abner visiting  King David	Adoration of  the Magi/Three Kings	Queen of Sheba  presenting gifts to Solomon

The Paupers' Bible were picture Bibles where Images, rather than text, they followed a fairly standard layout. At the centre of each sheet is usually a scene from the New Testament, flanked on either side by an Old Testament scene related to that central image  by typology. Typology being a brand of Biblical exegesis or study which was extremely popular in the medieval era, which centered on the belief that people and events in the Old Testament could be viewed as prefiguring or anticipating aspects of the life of Christ.

 

The description of the The Met’s prayer bead need to reflect the religious significance of the piece not just the physical and visual.