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Source Description
Mounted at the center of this octagonal pendant is a rare coin issued by Constantine the Great, the Roman Empire’s first Christian emperor. Constantine’s portrait appears on the coin’s front, those of two of his sons on the back. Constantine’s image is surrounded by male and female busts, some of which are mythological figures. The pendant once formed the centerpiece of a sumptuous gold necklace, likely a gift for a high-ranking court official or member of the imperial family. This larger necklace is thought to have included four additional coin-set pendants—two hexagonal and two circular, now in Washington, DC (Dumbarton Oaks), London (British Museum), and Paris (Musée du Louvre).
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
157567
label
Octagonal Pendant with Corinthian Column Spacers and Clasp Set
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
157567
contentType
object
title
Octagonal Pendant with Corinthian Column Spacers and Clasp Set
description
Mounted at the center of this octagonal pendant is a rare coin issued by Constantine the Great, the Roman Empire’s first Christian emperor. Constantine’s portrait appears on the coin’s front, those of two of his sons on the back. Constantine’s image is surrounded by male and female busts, some of which are mythological figures. The pendant once formed the centerpiece of a sumptuous gold necklace, likely a gift for a high-ranking court official or member of the imperial family. This larger necklace is thought to have included four additional coin-set pendants—two hexagonal and two circular, now in Washington, DC (Dumbarton Oaks), London (British Museum), and Paris (Musée du Louvre).
date
324–26 CE
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60756061
genreSpecific
Jewelry
imageCount
1
source
import
cul
Byzantium, Late Roman, Eastern Mediterranean, (probably Sirium or Nicomedia), Byzantine period
accession
1994.98
Source extras
tec
gold
tombstone
Octagonal Pendant with Corinthian Column Spacers and Clasp Set , 324–26 CE. Byzantium, Late Roman, Eastern Mediterranean, (probably Sirium or Nicomedia), Byzantine period. Gold. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1994.98
collection
MED - Byzantine
didYouKnow
Using the <em>opus interrasile </em>openwork technique, a goldsmith delicately punched and filed hundreds of tiny holes to create the intricate filigree pattern on this pendant.
citations
citation
Bergman, R. "A Gold Medallion from the Age of Constantine." <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 35, no. 1 (January 1995): 4-6.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 4-6, Cover
citation
Deppert-Lippitz, Barbara. "Late Roman Splendor: Jewelry from the Age of Constantine." <em>Cleveland Studies in the History of Art</em> 1 (1996): 30-71.
page_number
Reproduced: P. 31, fig. 1; P. 33, fig. 2a; P. 34, fig. 2b
url
www.jstor.org/stable/20079681
citation
Grierson, Philip. "Six Late Roman Medallions in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection." <em>Dumbarton Oaks Papers</em> 50 (1996): 139-45.
page_number
Mentioned on pp. 141-142.
citation
Geroulanou, Aimilia. <em>Diatrita: Gold Pierced-Work Jewellery from the 3rd to the 7th Century.</em> Athens: Benaki Museum, 1999.
page_number
Pp. 34, 36, 38, 84-86, 87, 90, 143, 154, 158, 194-195, 224-225, 228; Cats. 120 (fig. 43), 140 (fig. 259).
citation
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. <em>Knockouts: A Pocket Guide.</em> Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
page_number
No. 16, pp. 21, 116.
citation
Dumbarton Oaks, Marvin C. Ross, Stephen R. Zwirn, and Susan A. Boyd. <em>Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. Vol. 2</em>. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2005.
page_number
Pp. 141-166, Plate CX, Figs. 3-6.
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. 42-43, no. 4
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 258
citation
Asolati, Michele. "I pendenti monetali del Tesoro di Sidi bu Zeid (Libia)." <em>Tempo e preziosi. Tecniche di datazione per l’oreficeria tardoantica e medievale. </em>Oranamenta 6. Bologna: AnteQuem, 2017. p. 10, figs. 5 and 6.
creditline
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:11:53.760000
sourceId
157567
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Byzantine
med
gold
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
dd58ecd3d41146d0