Pectoral cross with busts of Jesus Christ and saints, silver-gilt. On the reverse, the engraved inscription refers to its owner: Epiphanios. Period: Middle Byzantine; circa: 11th c. 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.
Gold Earring, Period: Middle Byzantine. circa: 12thc. Length: 1.24 inches. 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).
Paten with Christogram and Repousse Border, Period: Early Byzantine, circa Mid 6th Century. Materials: silver, gilding and niello. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Gold coin. Ruler: Nicephorus I, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 802-811. Minted in: Italy (southern), Weight: 4.173 grammes. 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).
Base for a Cross, Period: Middle Byzantine circa: 11th century. Made in Constantinople. Materials: Copper alloy, cast, filed, reamed, and scraped. Dimensions: Overall: 5 x 1 15/16 x 2 1/16 in. (12.7 x 4.9 x 5.2 cm); Top (Diameter-Top exterior): 1 1/16in. (2.7cm). 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.
Pendant Icon with the Virgin “Dexiokratousa” and Frame with Winged Bull of Saint Luke on the back, Pendant 1100s; Frame mid. Period: Middle Byzantine. Materials: Steatite, Gilt silver, Pearls. 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.
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.
Psalter and New Testament, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa. 1084 A.D. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Medallion with Saint John the Baptist 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.
Dish of brown, fine-grained clay covered with a white slip. Period: Middle Byzantine; circa: Late 12th-early 13th c. The decoration is in champlevé, while the individual details are incised. A large standing bird is pictured between two bird-shaped animals resembling griffons but without wings. Dimensions: H. 0.07, Diam. of rim 0.235, Diam. of base 0.08 m. On the ground tufted plants. Yellow, very good quality glaze covers the inner surface and the edge of the rim on the outside. 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.
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.
Ring of Michael Attaleiates, Period: Middle Byzantine, Date: Before 1080. Materials: enamel on gold. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Ring of Leontios, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 1000, Materials: Gold, niello, Inscribed: “Lord help Leontius, Patrician and Count of imperial Obsikion guarded by God”. The ring came from Leontios of the district of Opsikion, in exactly what is currently northwestern Turkey. Patrikios as well as komes were Roman titles that moved in definition throughout the Byzantine period; it promises that Leontios was the guv of the district or an upper-level general. 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.
Relief icon; rectangular bronze plaque cast in low relief with full-length Hodegetria flanked by the Archangel Michael and St Theodore, each wearing a girdled tunic beneath a chlamys with decorated tablion; the figures are identified by intaglio inscriptions; the whole is surrounded by a raised border with a running vine scroll; traces of solder at sides and back. Period: Middle 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).
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.
Silver Chalice, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 6th century A.D. Dimensions: Height (max.): 18 cm. (7 1/16 in.); Width (max. at handles): 26.6 cm (10 1/2 in.); Width (bowl): 16 cm (6 5/16 in.).
The cup has actually ring handles topped by flat plates of lunate kind with trapezoidal forecasts in the line of the handles. An inscribed band in between the manages is flanked by a gilded profiled rim (above) and a gilded profiled band listed below. The body is hemispherical. The high foot includes a concave, then round stem and a cone-shaped assistance with broad, horizontal flange listed below. The niello-inlaid engraving (in Greek uppercase) equates: “Sarah hoped and made [this] using to the First Martyr” (Saint Stephen). Likewise (each side) is a gilded Christogram made up of a chi and rho (the very first 2 letters of Christ’s name in Greek) flanked by alpha and Omega. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, symbolizing that Christ is the beginning and end of all things. Locations of the bowl are completed; foot is corrected and repaired.
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.
Brick with a Dog’s Paw Print. Period: Middle Byzantine; Findspot: Istanbul. Material: ceramic. 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.
Medallion with Saint Paul from an Icon Frame, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa:ca. 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.
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.
Gold coin; Ruler: Manuel I Comnenus, Byzantine emperor; Period: Middle Byzantine; circa: 1143-1180; Minted in Constantinople. 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).
Plate with the Arming of David, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 629–630, Material: Silver, Made in Constantinople. 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.