Double-sided circular jewellery attachment. Christ Pantokrator is depicted on one side and the Virgin Orans on the other side. Period: Late Byzantine; circa: early 12th century. Dimensions: 0,026 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. 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.
Button, Early Byzantine circa: 500s. Materials: Rock crystal with a garnet mounted in a gold granulated star. 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.
Bracelet with Jewelled Clasp, Period: Early Byzantine, Date: -circa-Second half 4th Century (possibly 360-80). Materials: 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.
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).
Gold Signet-Ring, plain hoop and applied oval bezel depicts bust of Christ(?). Period: Late Roman – Early Byzantine. 5thC-6thC. Found/Acquired: Rome. 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.
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.
Ring Decorated with a Monogram, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 7th century. Found: Pereshchepina Complex. near Poltava, the Village of Malaya Pereshchepina. Materials: gold. Technique: cast, polished, soldered and engraved. 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.
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.
Personal gold ornament; Period: Early Byzantine Period; circa: 6thC-7thC. Length: 8 millimetres, Width: 7 millimetres. 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 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).
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.
Relief plaque icon, depicting the Crucifixion with full-length figures of the Virgin on the left and St John on the right, Late Byzantine (13 thc). Materials: Steatite – Gold.
Enkolpion with Enthroned Virgin, Nativity, Adoration; and Baptism. Period: Early Byzantine Last quarter 6th century (ca. 583). Materials: gold. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays
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.
Bracelet, Period: Late Roman circa: about 379 – 395 A.D., Materials: Gold, emeralds, sapphires, and glass, Dimensions: 2.8 × 5.8 cm (1 1/8 × 2 1/4 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.
Reliquary Cross with the Crucifixion, Period: Late Byzantine, circa: Late 12th-early 13th century. 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.
Relief icon; Period: Late Byzantine, circa: 14-15th c. carved white steatite in the shape of half an oval; St George and the dragon with name inscribed. Length: 2 centimetres Width: 1.6 centimetres. 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 Annunciation, Manuscript. Period: Late Byzantine, circa: 13th century. Dimensions: Leaf: 20.6 × 14.9 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.). Place: Nicaea, Medium: Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment. (Modern Iznik, Turkey). 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.
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.
Pendant Cross with Birds and Zoe-Phos, Period: Early Byzantine, circa Late 6th Century. Materials: filigree 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.