Additional Images
Reverse
Obverse
Description
The bust of Christ, identified by his sigla IC XC is rendered in repoussé. His right hand is raised in blessing; while holding a book in the left. The representation is enclosed in a border of elongated circles inlaid with niello. The arms of Christ's cruciform nimbus end in perpendicular serifs. Part of the niello inlay of the border has been lost.
Bibliography
The Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection of Harvard University, Handbook of the Collection (Washington, DC, 1946), no. 106.
Handbook of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University (Washington, DC, 1955), no. 140.
M. Ross, Metalwork, Ceramics, Glass, Glyptics, Painting, Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Vol. I, (Washington, DC, 1962), no. 25, pl. XXII.
Handbook of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University (Washington, DC, 1967), no. 84.
J. A. Cotsonis, Byzantine Figural Processional Crosses (Washington, DC, 1994), no. 7, fig. 31.
Exhibition History
Paris, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, "Exposition d'art byzantin," 1931.
Cambridge, Fogg Museum, "A Selection of Ivories, Bronzes, Metalwork and Other Objects from the Dumbarton Oaks Collection," Nov. 15 - Dec. 31, 1945.
Dumbarton Oaks, "Byzantine Figural Processional Crosses," Sept. 23, 1994 - Jan. 29, 1995.
Acquisition History
Found in Syria.
Collection of Henri Daguerre, Paris.
Purchased from the dealer Joseph Brummer, Paris and New York, by Robert Barnes and Mildred Barnes Bliss, August 20, 1921 - November 29, 1940;
Gifted to Harvard University, November 29, 1940;
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Byzantine Collection, Washington, D.C.
