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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).

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Page
1
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0
Type
photo
Media ID
dd58ecd3d41146d0
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unknown

Document data

ID
157567
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
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    "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": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1994.98",
    "rights": "CC0",
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    "wikidata": [
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    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1994.98/1994.98_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "cul": [
        "Byzantium, Late Roman, Eastern Mediterranean, (probably Sirium or Nicomedia), Byzantine period"
    ],
    "accession": "1994.98"
}

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Document identity
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    "label": "Octagonal Pendant with Corinthian Column Spacers and Clasp Set",
    "core": "obj",
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Document 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": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1994.98",
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    "imageCount": 1,
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        "Byzantium, Late Roman, Eastern Mediterranean, (probably Sirium or Nicomedia), Byzantine period"
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Document 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",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1995-01/page/4"
        },
        {
            "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."
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1994.98",
    "creditline": "Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 08:11:53.760000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1994.98/1994.98_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 157567,
    "dept": "Medieval Art",
    "coll": "MED - Byzantine",
    "med": "gold",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
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