Ivory Panel, carved with standing figures, Christ with the Virgin Mary and St John, below a pierced canopy; four holes for attachment in the raised border. Period: Middle Byzantine circa: 10thc. Materials: Ivory. 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).
Ivory Panel, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 6th c. Made in: Syria. Dimensions: Height: 16.3 centimetres Width: 8.1 centimetres Depth: 1 centimetres Weight: 128 grammes. Carved in relief with a depiction of The Baptism: young Christ standing full face up to waist in water; to left, St John the Baptist stands leaning forward upon a rock, one hand resting upon Christ’s head. 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: Michael II the Amorian, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 820-829, Minted in: 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).
Loop earring; Materials: silver; Period: Middle Byzantine: 10thc-11thc. Length: 51 millimetres Weight: 12.2 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).
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).
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).
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).
Gold coin; Ruler: Constantine V Copronymus; Leo III, Byzantine Emperor; Period: Middle Byzantine; circa: 737-741; Minted in: Constantinople. Weight: 4.4 grammes Diameter: 19 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).
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).
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, 705-711, Minted in: Ravenna, Weight: 4.238 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).
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).
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).
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.
Earring; Period: Middle Byzantine circa: 10thC-12thC. 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 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).
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).
Oliphant; Material: ivory; with two silver bands. Period: Middle Byzantine / 10thC-11thC. Made in: Italy (southern)(Europe,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).
Earring; Period: Middle Byzantine; 11thc.-12thc. Material: gold. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year.
Gold Earring; semi-circular; with U-shaped loop to which is attached a similarly shaped thin plate of gold. Period: Middle Byzantine; 11thc.-12thc.; Found/Acquired: Syria. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year.
Gold coin; Ruler: Manuel I Comnenus, Byzantine emperor; circa: 1143-1180; Minted in: Constantinople. Weight: 4.484 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).
Mosaic Pavement; Period: Late Roman; circa: 4th c.; Excavated/Place: Halicarnassus, Modern Turkey, Aegean Region, Anatolia. Materials: stone. Dimensions: Height: 1.4 metres Width: 1.36 metres. Museum Description: Panel from a mosaic pavement, Dionysos dances to the right, with the panther running behind and looking up at him. Dionysos wears a grey-green wreath, and carries a strip of red drapery edged with black. The name of Dionysos is inscribed in Greek.
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).