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.
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.
Processional Cross, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 1000–1050, Materials: Silver, silver-gilt. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 303. Inscription: in Greek: (on the back medallions) Saint Thalelaios, Saint Nicholas, [initials for] Saint John Chrysostom, Uriel, Raphael; (on foot) supplication of Leo, bishop (on the front medallions) [initials for] Jesus Christ, [initials for] Mother of God, [initials for] John the Forerunner, Michael, Gabriel. 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.
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).
Reliquary Cross; Materials: Cloisonné Enamel and Gold, Period: Middle Byzantine (10thc.) Made in: Constantinople. Museum Description: “Decorated with a standing figure of the Virgin, wearing chiton and maphorion, flanked by busts of St Basil and St Gregory Thaumaturgus; cylindrical gold chain connected to pendant; part of chain in another style.” 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).
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.
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.
Roundel with Emperor John II Comnenus. Period: Byzantine, ca. 1110 – 1118. Material: marble. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Seal, Theodore Kastamonites, Sebastos. The two Saints Theodore standing with their hands upraised towards the manus Dei above. Between them are their spears and a shield embossed with a patriarchal cross. This remarkable seal may well have belonged to Theodore Kastamonites, the maternal uncle of the emperor Isaac II Angelos (1185–1195, 1203–1204), who tended to the internal affairs of the empire during his nephew’s first reign. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.
Signet Ring of John, Imperial Spatharios, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 10th century, Materials: Gold, niello. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 300 . Museum Description: “The title spatharios, Sword-Bearer, was originally an honor reserved for the imperial bodyguard. By the middle Byzantine period, it had become an honorific title only, indicating Ioannis’s respectable status.” 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 from the exterior ornamentation of a church at Amaseia in the Pontos. Materials: stone, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: (1197-1207). Showing the military saints Dimitrios and Theodoros slaying the Bulgarian tsar Skyloyannis or Kaloyannis. Dimensions: 0.33×0.44×0.05 m. Traces of red pigment are visible.
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.
Textile Fragment, Materials: silk and cotton. Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 8thc-9thc. Rectangular panel of woven silk sen onto a larger cotton cloth of irregular, roughly rectangular shape; two hunters on horseback, in a round frame with floral ornament. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year.
The Fieschi Morgan Staurotheke, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: early 9th century, Made in Constantinople, Materials: Gilded silver, gold, enamel worked in cloisonné, and niello. 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.
The Raising of Lazarus, Panel; ivory; Christ with cruciferous nimbus relocate to right with hand raised as well as first finger expanded; various other hand lugs a staff; behind him walks a bearded apostle; prior to him are Mary and also Martha, one standing listening, the various other stooping with hands extended in supplication; behind them to right is an aedicula with cupola, where is the covered body of Lazarus; behind-the-scenes the structures of Bethany.
Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 900-1100. Materials: ivory
British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year.
Coins, Ruler: Theophilus, Byzantine Emperor; Period: Middle Byzantine circa: 821-842; Minted in: Italy. Weight: 4.413 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).
Gold coin. Ruler: Tiberius III, Byzantine Emperor; Period: Middle Byzantine; circa: 705-711; Minted in: Ravenna, Italy. 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).
Coin, Ruler: Tiberius III, Byzantine Emperor; circa: 705-711; Minted in: Ravenna. Weight: 4.309 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).
Triptych Showing the Forty Martyrs, Period: Middle Byzantine; circa: Late 11th – early 12th century. Materials: ivory and silver (frame). Technique: carved and painted. Dimensions: 18,5×24,2 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.
Vollschmelz medallion (9th Century – Middle Byzantine Period). Gold cloisonné; bust of St. Nicholas, his right hand raised in benediction, a book in his left; inscription. 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).