A BYZANTINE GOLD AND GARNET CROSS CIRCA 5TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.

拍品描述

A BYZANTINE GOLD AND GARNET CROSS PENDANT, CIRCA 5TH-7TH CENTURY A.D. Of Latin form, the cross constructed from four arms of rectangular section, each face bordered by twisted gold wire flanking a central plain band, the terminals of the three upper arms and the foot of the longer lower arm finished with paired volute scrolls of twisted wire, each scroll centred by a small granule. At the crossing, a circular collet set with a cabochon garnet is framed by a ring of twisted wire echoing the borders of the arms. A plain tubular suspension loop, also bound with twisted wire, rises from the head of the upper arm. The decorative vocabulary is consistent with late antique and early Byzantine goldsmithing: filigree borders of beaded or twisted wire, granulation reduced to small accent points at the volute terminals, and a single coloured stone reserved for the symbolic centre. The garnet at the crossing marks the point at which the arms meet, the locus of the Crucifixion in cruciform iconography, and gives the object its single chromatic accent against the worked gold. The volute terminals, sometimes described as trefoil or fleur-like, are a characteristic feature of pectoral and processional crosses produced across the eastern Mediterranean from the fifth century onward, found on examples ranging from Constantinople to Syria-Palestine and the Egyptian provinces. The choice of gold here carries meaning beyond its material value. In Byzantine devotional jewellery, gold was understood as the appropriate medium for objects associated with sanctity and incorruption, and the pectoral cross worn on the person served as an apotropaic and confessional ornament, identifying the wearer as Christian and invoking protection. Garnet, widely traded across the late Roman and early Byzantine world from sources reaching as far as the Indian subcontinent, was favoured for its deep red colour, which carried associations with the blood of Christ when set at the centre of a cross. Such pendants are recorded in burial contexts and in hoards across the former Eastern Empire, and were worn by both lay and clerical figures of standing. This pendant exemplifies the small-scale goldwork of the early Byzantine centuries, in which Christian iconography was expressed through restrained form, wirework ornament, and a single gem rather than figural representation. The reliance on twisted-wire filigree and volute terminals, with the garnet reserved for the symbolic centre, locates it within the mainstream of pectoral cross production of the period, in which devotional function and personal adornment were not separated. Height: 4.2cm

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