Byzantine Pectoral Cross (front and back), Period: Late Byzantine circa: 1200–1400 A.D. , Benaki Museum, Athens. Museum Description: “Gold pectoral in the form of a Resurrection cross with double horizontal arms set with lapis lazuli. The owner’s name, Georgios Varagkopoulos, is inscribed on the back together with his title Sevastos (Augustus), which reflects his high social standing and explains the luxurious quality of the materials and the fine workmanship. “
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. It was converted into a museum in order to shelter the collections of Antonis Benakis and was donated to the Greek nation by himself and his three sisters, Alexandra, Penelope and Argine. Following its most recent refurbishment (1989–2000), the building houses a unique exhibition on Greek culture arranged diachronically from prehistory to the 20th century.
Gold Cross Pendant, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 500–700s. Material: Gold. Dimensions: 3 9/16 x 2 11/16 x 1/2in. (9 x 6.8 x 1.2cm). On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 301. 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.
The Agony in the Garden, Manuscript, Period: Late Byzantine; circa: 1200 to 1299 A.D. Place: Nicaea. (Modern Turkey) Material: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment bound between wood boards covered with light brown velvet. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.)
Museum Description: “Placed within the Gospel of Matthew, the full-page miniature of the Agony in the Garden represents one of the more powerfully emotional moments in Jesus’ Passion. After the Passover meal, Jesus and his apostles retire to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus foretells Saint Peter’s betrayal. Jesus then asks his closest disciples to stay awake with him, but later, while he prays, the apostles fall asleep.
The artist represents Jesus twice in the miniature: once confronting Peter at the bottom of the image and then praying above. Jesus’ feelings of isolation and abandonment as he prays are expressed visually by his physical separation not only from the apostles but also from the angel shown behind him. Against the hilly landscape, the apostles huddle together in their sleep, their bodies forming a mound almost as large as the mountain itself. The crisp folds of their garments are made of embedded geometric forms that echo the shape of the rocks at the top of the mountain.“
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
Quantity of pearl, tourmaline, glass, coral and bronze beads, once attached no doubt to cloth. Period: Early Byzantine circa: 6-7th century. Made in/Findspot: Constantinople. In the Istanbul Archaeological Museum collections, there are rich and very important works of art belonging to various civilizations from the regions from Africa to Balkans , from Anatolia and Mesopotamia to Arab Peninsula and Afghanistan that were in the borders of the Ottoman Empire.
Necklace, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 6th century. Made in Constantinople. Material: gold. Technique: carving, engraving. Dimensions: Lenght 27 cm. The collection of the State Hermitage includes over 3 million works of art and world culture artefacts. It contains paintings, graphic works, sculptures, works of applied art, archaeological artefacts and numismatic objects. The Hermitage is considered to have been founded in 1764, when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of works from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, St. Catherine’s Day. Opening Hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: 10.30-18.00 Wednesday, Friday: 10.30-21.00 Closed: Monday.
Gold Earrings, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 6th century A.D. Made in: Constantinople, Materials: Gold. In the Istanbul Archaeological Museum collections, there are rich and very important works of art belonging to various civilizations from the regions from Africa to Balkans , from Anatolia and Mesopotamia to Arab Peninsula and Afghanistan that were in the borders of the Ottoman Empire.
Pendant with Portrait Intaglio, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 500s. Materials: Garnet with gold filigree setting. Size: 3.4 x 2.3 cm (1 5/16 x 7/8 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.
Earring, Materials: Ruby, Sapphire, Gold and Gems. Period: Early Byzantine, early 5th century. Found in 1910 during restoration work in Piazza della Consolazione, Rome. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Gold Goblet with Personifications of Cyprus, Rome, Constantinople, and Alexandria, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 700s. Culture: Avar or Byzantine, Materials: Gold. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 301.
Museum description :“This goblet is decorated with female personifications of four major ecclesiastical centers in the Byzantine world. The awkwardly written identifications suggest that this goblet was an Avar attempt to imitate a Byzantine chalice.” 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.
Medallion with Saint John the Evangelist from an Icon Frame, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 1100, Made in Constantinople, Materials: Gold, silver, and enamel worked in cloisonné. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 303. 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.
Three sections of a Gold necklace. Materials: sapphires, emeralds, cornelians and pearls. Period: Early Byzantine; circa: 5th c. Made in: Alexandria, Egypt. Their height varies from 0.05 to 0.06 m. 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.
Saint Luke, Manuscript, Period: Late Byzantine circa: early 13th century. Place: Nicomedia (Modern Izmit, Anatolia, Turkey) Materials: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.) Museum Description: “Before the Gospel of Saint Luke, the illuminator placed a portrait of the evangelist. Seated in an elaborate throne with his book open on his knees, Luke writes his Gospel, his account of Jesus’ life and teachings. The tradition of including author portraits in manuscripts began in antiquity; by the thirteenth century, the inclusion of portraits of the evangelists in Gospel books had become quite common. ”
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
Crescent-Shaped Pendant, Period: Middle Byzantine; circa: 11th century. Materials: gold filigree with cloisonné enamel. Dimensions: 3 x 3.2 cm (1 3/16 x 1 1/4 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.
Saint John the Evangelist Dictating, Manuscript, Period: Late Byzantine; circa: 1200 to 1225. Place: Nicomedia (Modern Izmit, Turkey) Materials: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.) The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
Icon of Depicting Virgin Mary Thornousa, which was probably part of a wider composition depicting Extreme Humiliation or Crucifixion. Period: Late Byzantine; circa: The fourth quarter of the 14th century. The shape of the Virgin Mary, with the scattered hair and the deformed by pain characteristics, refers to the expressive, anti-classical flow of Byzantine painting.
Pendant; material: gold; hollow box building; in the form of a bent leaf; obverse chased and convex marked, butt-soldered to a simple opposite; suspension loophole of triple-ribbed strip, the angle in between the loophole and the obverse masked by a brief length of the very same strip. Height: 32.2 millimetres Width: 15.5 millimetres. Period: Early Byzantine. 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).
Reliquary of St. Zacharias, Period: Early Byzantine, 6th Century, Material: Gold and gems. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Pair of Earrings, Materials: Gold, Gems, Pearls and Garnets. 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.
Ring in Openwork Filigree, Period: Early Byzantine Period, circa: A.D. 550–650. Material: Gold. 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.
Pendant Cross, Period: Early Byzantine (7thc.) Height: 55.8 millimetres Width: 37.2 millimetres Depth: 7 millimetres Weight: 7.27 grammes. Materials: 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).
The Descent into Limbo, Period: Late Byzantine, circa: 13th century. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.) Place: Nicaea, Modern Turkey (Place created).
Museum Description: “After his Crucifixion and before his Resurrection, Christ freed worthy Bible figures from limbo (an event known as the Anastasis in Greek). Here Christ pulls Adam by the wrist out of the tomb and toward the Kingdom of Heaven, while Abel, Eve, John the Baptist, King Solomon, and King David await their salvation. The two kings are dressed in the jeweled crowns and embroidered cloaks of Byzantine emperors.”
The collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum comprises Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art from the Neolithic to Late Antiquity; European art—including illuminated manuscripts, paintings, drawings, sculpture, and decorative arts—from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century; and international photography from its inception to the present day.