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Source Description
The center of this thin dress ornament, which would have been sewn onto a garment through the four holes, is dominated by an imperial cross. The two globes on either side of it represent the two empires (East and West), ruled by two-emperors during the 2nd half of the 5th century. Testing of the extensive enamel decoration revealed this to be a skilled forgery and not a Byzantine piece, as it was long believed to be.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
37842
label
Byzantine-Style Dress Ornament
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
37842
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Byzantine-Style Dress Ornament
description
The center of this thin dress ornament, which would have been sewn onto a garment through the four holes, is dominated by an imperial cross. The two globes on either side of it represent the two empires (East and West), ruled by two-emperors during the 2nd half of the 5th century. Testing of the extensive enamel decoration revealed this to be a skilled forgery and not a Byzantine piece, as it was long believed to be.
provenance
Collection of Madame X (Behague?) Sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, November 5, 1925, lot 84; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
Original: 5th century
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Enamels
ornaments
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
H: 2 5/8 in. (6.6 cm)
Source extras
med
gold, enamel
creator_ids
6640
collection_ids
BYZ
JWL
exhibition_ids
1954
358
2227
2513
721
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
0e4b31063b2c7023