Images from World History
Early Byzantine history
(7 - 11th c. A.D.)
Metalwork
1. Silver repousé missorum from the Cyrene Treasure. The product of the court atelier under Herakles,
ca. 600 A.D. It shows the Marriage of David. 610-629 A.D. (Nicosia Class. Mus.) The bottom plate shows Herakles
and the Lion. Constantinople, end of 6th c. A.D. (Paris: Cab. des Med.). From the time of Herakles, with the heroic
efforts to reconstitute the East Roman Empire on a new feudal (Byzantine) basis (Theme System), the emperors
were represented as a king over God's chosen people (a New David) or leader of private interests (a new
Moses). This notion shows up throughout the early feudal West, including Francia, Islam and Axum. In
Constantinople this political ideology was expressed in terms of traditional courtly classicism.
2. Silver repousé plate showing David slaying the lion. From the Cyprus Treasure. Byzantine, ca. 600 A.D.
(New York: Metropolitan Museum). David here is a manifestation of Herakles slaying the Nemean Lion.
3. Silver repousé dish from Cyprus Treasure, the Karavas Hoard. Detail showing David (as Hercules) and
Goliath. Byzantine imperial workshop, 7th c. A.D. (New York: Metropolitan Museum). 19.5" dia. The emperors
were represented as David, a king over God's chosen people, conflated with Herakles, the fighter against
evil. A lively narrative naturalistic style, but the expressive drapery might be used to convey spiritual
content.
4. Polychrome book cover from St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice. The Madonna Nicopeia.
Textiles
1. Silk textile with hippocampi. Byzantine, 7th c. A.D. (Bruxelles: Mus. d'Arch. et d'Hist.). Since the 4th
century, the Sassanid policy had been to export only fishished products to Egypt rather than raw silk
to the Mediterranean in general. So under Justinian in the sixth century, silk worms were smuggled in
and used to begin a local royal silk industry. There was a small but wealthy market for such products
and the emperors jealously guarded the technology. Naturally, the Sassanid silks that had been imported
from Egypt offered a model. A surround consisting of roundels connected by geometic rosettes contains
a hippocampus, or pegasus, a winged horse that can have a peacock tail.
2. Silk serge textile showing a quadriga in a surround theme, which is either the Triumph of Alexander or a
charioteer in the Hippodrome in Constantinople. 7-8th c. A.D. Found in Charlemagne's tomb, it is evidently
an export or jpgt from the Byzantine court to the Frankish court. (Aachen: Domschatz)
76 cm. The consuls below are distributing money (the donative) as a sign of the ruler's generosity, which has
long ceased to represent practice. But it remains signficant because feudal government is based on aristocratic
private interests and power (lordship). The surround of geometic rosettes contains a quadriga theme, which
is western rather than Sassanid, and the horses are treated in the Byzantine manner.
The frontality, symmetry, geometric abstraction here reflect hieratic values, which is better suited to textile
production and perhaps to convey to the unsophisticated Frankish king a sense of Byzantine imperial majesty.
3. Textile fragment with hippocampus design from Santa Sanctorum, Rome. Byzantine, 8th c. A.D. (Vatican City:
Museo Sacro). The theme is based on a Sassanian original, but the stylizations are typically Byzantine. For
example, the the hippocampi are standing more naturally in an open space rather than leaping within a
surround, which responds to the classical East Mediterranian preferance for naturalism and open composition.
4. Calamanco (glossy wool) textile of counterposed hunting emperors flanking a hom. Byzantine, 8th c. A.D.
(Lyons: Mus. hist. Tissus). 73.5 cm. This imported textile was donated to Mozac monastey by Pepin in 761.
While this piece is inspired by Sassanid silk imports from Egypt, it reflects some East Mediterranean naturalism,
and the hunters are wearing Byzantine court regalia.
Painting
1. Encaustic panel painting of Madonna and Child, flanked by Saints Theodore and George and two angels.
Perhaps made in Constantinople at beg. 7th c. A.D. (Sinai: St. Katherine's Monastery). 68.5 x 48 cm. Frontal
saints are intense and flatened. The angels are more impressionistic. The style therefore adapts to the
three levels of reality.
2. Silver repousé plate showing David slaying the lion. From the Cyprus Treasure. Byzantine, ca. 600 A.D.
(New York: Metropolitan Museum). David here is a manifestation of Herakles slaying the Nemean Lion.
3. Silver repousé dish from Cyprus Treasure, the Karavas Hoard. Detail showing David (as Hercules) and
Goliath. Byzantine imperial workshop, 7th c. A.D. (New York: Metropolitan Museum). 19.5" dia. The emperors
were represented as David, a king over God's chosen people, conflated with Herakles, the fighter against
evil. A lively narrative naturalistic style, but the expressive drapery might be used to convey spiritual
content.
4. Polychrome book cover from St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice. The Madonna Nicopeia.
1. Silk textile with hippocampi. Byzantine, 7th c. A.D. (Bruxelles: Mus. d'Arch. et d'Hist.). Since the 4th
century, the Sassanid policy had been to export only fishished products to Egypt rather than raw silk
to the Mediterranean in general. So under Justinian in the sixth century, silk worms were smuggled in
and used to begin a local royal silk industry. There was a small but wealthy market for such products
and the emperors jealously guarded the technology. Naturally, the Sassanid silks that had been imported
from Egypt offered a model. A surround consisting of roundels connected by geometic rosettes contains
a hippocampus, or pegasus, a winged horse that can have a peacock tail.
2. Silk serge textile showing a quadriga in a surround theme, which is either the Triumph of Alexander or a
charioteer in the Hippodrome in Constantinople. 7-8th c. A.D. Found in Charlemagne's tomb, it is evidently
an export or jpgt from the Byzantine court to the Frankish court. (Aachen: Domschatz)
76 cm. The consuls below are distributing money (the donative) as a sign of the ruler's generosity, which has
long ceased to represent practice. But it remains signficant because feudal government is based on aristocratic
private interests and power (lordship). The surround of geometic rosettes contains a quadriga theme, which
is western rather than Sassanid, and the horses are treated in the Byzantine manner.
The frontality, symmetry, geometric abstraction here reflect hieratic values, which is better suited to textile
production and perhaps to convey to the unsophisticated Frankish king a sense of Byzantine imperial majesty.
3. Textile fragment with hippocampus design from Santa Sanctorum, Rome. Byzantine, 8th c. A.D. (Vatican City:
Museo Sacro). The theme is based on a Sassanian original, but the stylizations are typically Byzantine. For
example, the the hippocampi are standing more naturally in an open space rather than leaping within a
surround, which responds to the classical East Mediterranian preferance for naturalism and open composition.
4. Calamanco (glossy wool) textile of counterposed hunting emperors flanking a hom. Byzantine, 8th c. A.D.
(Lyons: Mus. hist. Tissus). 73.5 cm. This imported textile was donated to Mozac monastey by Pepin in 761.
While this piece is inspired by Sassanid silk imports from Egypt, it reflects some East Mediterranean naturalism,
and the hunters are wearing Byzantine court regalia.
1. Encaustic panel painting of Madonna and Child, flanked by Saints Theodore and George and two angels.
Perhaps made in Constantinople at beg. 7th c. A.D. (Sinai: St. Katherine's Monastery). 68.5 x 48 cm. Frontal
saints are intense and flatened. The angels are more impressionistic. The style therefore adapts to the
three levels of reality.