Almond-Shaped Pendant, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 400-600. Materials: gold, lapis lazuli, garnet, and glass. The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Lamp, Made in: Luxor, Egypt. Period: Early Byzantine circa: 6th-7th century. Subjects: Cross, bird. Found/Acquired: Luxor. Materials: Bronze. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).
Double-Sided Pendant Icon with the Virgin and Christ Pantokrator, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 1100. Made in Constantinople. Materials: Gold, cloisonné enamel. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 300. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.
Gold Earring; Period: Early Byzantine; consisting of a tower-like ornament attached to a gold chain; circa: 5thC-6thC, Early Byzantine. Found: Kalymnos, Greece. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).
Steelyard Weight with a Bust of a Byzantine Empress and a Hook. This Byzantine steelyard weight dates from the first half of the 5th century. The bronze hook would permit it to be suspended from and moved along a ruled steelyard to determine the weight of an item hung from the opposite end. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.
Pendant Cross, Material: Gold. Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 500s.
The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Earring, Period: Middle Byzantine circa: 11thc. Height: 1 inches. Material: gold. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).
Medallion with the Virgin from an Icon Frame. Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 1100, Made in Constantinople, Materials: Gold, silver, and enamel worked in cloisonné. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.
Large Textile with a Hero Attacking a Lion, Period: Early Byzantine, 600-900 A.D. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Buckle with Embossed Head in Profile, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 400-600. Materials: gold, lapis lazuli, and glass. The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Chain with Two Pendants and a Cross, Period: Early Byzantine; circa: 6th century. Type of art work: Jewelry Materials: gold with granulation and a garnet. Overall: h. 45.7 cm (18 in.); Part 1: 2.6 x 2.6 cm (1 x 1 in.); Part 2: 2.8 x 1.9 cm (1 1/16 x 3/4 in.); Part 3: 1.9 x 1.1 cm (3/4 x 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Tremissis of Anastasius I, Gold, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: A.D. 491–518. Mint: Constantinople. The MFA is open 7 days a week. Monday and Tuesday 10 am–5 pm, Wednesday–Friday 10 am–10 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am–5 pm.
Gold Finger Ring, Period: Early Byzantine (6 th. c.) flat hoop cut into eight alternating circular and hexagonal panels; circular panels engraved alternately with dove and palmette; hexagonal panels with S-shaped line crossed by bar, lines terminating with punched dots. Found/Acquired: Beirut. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).
The Attarouthi Treasure, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 500-650s. Made in Attarouthi, Syria. Materials: Silver, silver-gilt. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 300.
These well-wrought liturgical items– chalices, censers, a filter, and also a depiction of the dove of the Holy Spirit– were amongst the belongings of a Christian church in the wealthy seller city of Attarouthi in Syria, after that among the wealthiest lands of the Byzantine Empire. The chalices, censers, and also filter were made use of for the Divine Liturgy, or Eucharist, where Christians take consecrated wine and bread in ceremony of the Last Supper and also Christ’s death. According to their inscriptions, written in Greek with several spelling variants, many of the objects were offerings of local citizens to the major church of the town, which was dedicated to Saint Stephen, and to a smaller church dedicated to Saint John (probably Saint John the Forerunner [the Baptist]). In the very early 7th century Syria dropped initially to the Sasanian Persians and afterwards to the militaries of Islam. These works were most likely hidden in haste in a safety container at some minute when the Byzantine military was pulling away from strikes on the area.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.
[xyz-ihs snippet="Met-Museum-Booking"]Pair of Earrings. Materials: Pearls, Sapphires, Gold, Gems and Gold Globules. Period: Early Byzantine, circa: Early 5th Century. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Pectoral with Coins and Pseudo-Medallion, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 539–50, Materials: Gold, niello, On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 302. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.
Octagonal Marriage Ring with Holy Site Scenes, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 7th Century. Materials: gold with niello.The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Calyx (Chalice), Period: Middle Byzantine, 900s-1000s. Blood jasper (heliotrope) with gilt-copper mounts. The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Lamp for a Stand, Period: Early Byzantine. Material: Bronze. Found: Egypt. In the shape of a peacock, with circular foot; the spout is at the end of the tail, and the hole for filling in the back is covered by a hinged leaf-shaped lid.
British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).
Fragmentary Bracelet with Medallion of Emperor in a Chariot, Period: Early Byzantine, 6th century, Material: gold Found: Said to have been found at Latakia, Syria in 1948. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Ring, Materials: Gold. Period: Early Byzantine; circa: 6th-7th c. Ring with busts of saints on the shank and a representation of the Annunciation on the bezel with details picked out in niello. The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture is housed in one of the most beautiful neoclassical-style buildings in Athens, near the National Garden and the Hellenic Parliament.