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Source Description
These four liturgical silver vessels—a paten and three chalices (1950.378–81)—form what is now called the Beth Misona Treasure, named for the village in northern Syria for which the objects were made. While nothing is known about the exact location and circumstances of the treasure's discovery, the people of the village of Beth Misona were, like other Christian communities in Syria and Palestine, probably forced to bury their church silver to hide it from the Persians or Arabs, who conquered their lands in the first half of the 600s. The paten, which held pieces of Eucharistic bread used during Mass, is decorated with an engraved Latin cross surrounded by a dedicatory inscription that names the paten's donor—Domnos—and its original location, the church of Saint Sergios in Beth Misona. The chalices, which contained the Eucharistic wine used during Mass, feature broad cups decorated with portrait busts of Saints Peter and Paul, Christ, and the Virgin. One chalice bears a dedicatory inscription naming its donor—Kyriakos, Domnos's son—and the priest of the church that received the pious gift—Zeno.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
127718
label
Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
127718
contentType
object
title
Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure
description
These four liturgical silver vessels—a paten and three chalices (1950.378–81)—form what is now called the Beth Misona Treasure, named for the village in northern Syria for which the objects were made. While nothing is known about the exact location and circumstances of the treasure's discovery, the people of the village of Beth Misona were, like other Christian communities in Syria and Palestine, probably forced to bury their church silver to hide it from the Persians or Arabs, who conquered their lands in the first half of the 600s. The paten, which held pieces of Eucharistic bread used during Mass, is decorated with an engraved Latin cross surrounded by a dedicatory inscription that names the paten's donor—Domnos—and its original location, the church of Saint Sergios in Beth Misona. The chalices, which contained the Eucharistic wine used during Mass, feature broad cups decorated with portrait busts of Saints Peter and Paul, Christ, and the Virgin. One chalice bears a dedicatory inscription naming its donor—Kyriakos, Domnos's son—and the priest of the church that received the pious gift—Zeno.
date
c. 500–700
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60755183
genreSpecific
Metalwork
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 17 x 14.7 cm (6 11/16 x 5 13/16 in.)
cul
early Byzantium, Constantinople or Syria, Byzantine period, 6th-7th Century
accession
1950.38
Source extras
tec
silver
tombstone
Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure, c. 500–700. Early Byzantium, Constantinople or Syria, Byzantine period, 6th-7th Century. Silver; overall: 17 x 14.7 cm (6 11/16 x 5 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1950.380
collection
MED - Byzantine
relatedWorks
id
127717
description
Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure, c. 500–700. Early Byzantium, Constantinople or Syria, Byzantine period, 6th-7th Century. Silver; overall: 17.1 x 14.9 cm (6 3/4 x 5 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1950.379
id
127719
description
Paten (Dedicated to Saint Sergius) from the Beth Misona Treasure, c. 500. Early Byzantium, Constantinople or Syria, Byzantine period, 6th-7th Century. Silver; diameter: 32.2 x 3.5 cm (12 11/16 x 1 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1950.381
id
127716
description
Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure, c. 500-700. Early Byzantium, Constantinople or Syria, Byzantine period, 6th-7th Century. Silver; overall: 17 x 14.2 cm (6 11/16 x 5 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1950.378
citations
citation
Milliken, William. "The Cleveland Byzantine Silver Treasure." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>38, no. 6 (June 1951): 142-145.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 135; Mentioned: p. 143
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” July 9, 1951, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 51
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein<em>. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 52-53, no. 9
citation
Leader-Newby, Ruth. "Early Christian Silver: Sacred and Domestic." In <em>The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art. </em>Robin Margaret Jensen and Mark D. Ellison, editors. Abingdon Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2018.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 244, fig. 15.2
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:34:42.212000
sourceId
127718
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Byzantine
med
silver
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
f5b89290f267cd63