With Saint John the Forerunner, a deacon saint (probably Saint Stephen), a bishop saint, and crosses
Inscribed in Greek: Of Saint John of the village of Atarothis
The figure carrying a Gospel book and swinging a censer to cense and honor the text is probably Saint Stephen. One of the first seven deacons of the Christian church and its first martyr (Acts of the Apostles 6 and 7), he was a popular saint throughout the Christian world in this period.
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Artwork Details
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Title:The Attarouthi Treasure - Chalice
Date:500–650
Geography:Made in Attarouthi, Syria
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Silver and gilded silver
Dimensions:Overall: 8 1/16 × 5 15/16 in., 13oz. (20.5 × 15.1 cm, 369g) Diam. of foot: 3 9/16 in. (9 cm) Diam. of knop: 1 9/16 in. (3.9 cm) Capacity of cup: 1100 ml
Classification:Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:Purchase, Rogers Fund and Henry J. and Drue E. Heinz Foundation, Norbert Schimmel, and Lila Acheson Wallace Gifts, 1986
Object Number:1986.3.10
Inscription: [in Greek:] Of [ the Church of ] Saint John of the village of Attarouthi
From Attarouthi, Syria; [ Elias Bustros, Beirut (by 1940)]; [ Sleiman Abou Taam, Beirut and Switzerland (1965–1986)]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Mirror of the Medieval World," March 9–June 1, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition," March 14–July 8, 2012.
Toronto. Aga Khan Museum. "Syria: An Unbroken History," October 15, 2016–February 26, 2017.
Institut du Monde Arabe. "Chrêtiens d'Orient, 2000 ans d'histoire," September 26, 2017–January 14, 2018.
Institut du Monde Arabe. "Chrétiens d'Orient, 2000 ans d'histoire," September 26, 2017–January 14, 2018.
Frazer, Margaret English. "Silver Liturgical Objects from Attarouthi in Syria." In Byzantine Studies Conference Abstracts of Papers. Vol. 14. Madison, Wisconsin: Byzantine Studies Conference, 1988. pp. 13–14.
Wixom, William D. "Curatorial Reports and Departmental Accessions." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 120 (Jul. 1, 1989–Jun. 30, 1990). p. 28, illus.
Maguire, Henry P. The Icons of their Bodies: Saints and Their Images in Byzantium. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. p. 105.
Wixom, William D., ed. Mirror of the Medieval World. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999. no. 46, pp. 37–38.
Dandridge, Pete. "A Study of the Gilding of Silver in Byzantium." In Gilded Metals: History, Technology and Conservation. London: Archetype Publications, 2000. pp. 125–139, fig. 7.1.
Eisenberg, Jerome M. "The New Byzantine Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Minerva 12, no. 3 (2001). pp. 26–27, fig. 13.
Evans, Helen C., Melanie Holcomb, and Robert Hallman. "The Arts of Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 58, no. 4 (Spring 2001). pp. 38, 50, 60.
Elbern, Victor. "Zehn Kelche und eine Taube : Bemerkungen zum liturgischen Schatzfund von Attarouhti [ Attarouthi ]." Oriens Christianus 88 (2004). pp. 233–253, fig. 1.
Dandridge, Pete. "The Exhibition of Unlacquered Silver at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 44 (2005). pp. 178–179.
Elbern, Victor. "Zehn Kelche und eine Taube. Bemerkungen zum liturgischen Schatzfund von Attarouhti." In Fructus operis III : ausgewählte kunsthistorische Schriften aus den Jahren 1961-2007, edited by Michael Brandt. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2008. pp. 378–98.
Barnet, Peter. "Medieval Europe." In Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1977–2008, edited by James R. Houghton. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. p. 25.
Piguet-Panayotova, Dora. "The Attarouthi Chalices." Mitteilungen zur spätantiken Archäologie und byzantinischen Kunstgeschichte 6 (2009). pp. 9–76, fig. 1, 9.1–9.3.
Hunter-Crawley, Heather. "The Cross of Light: Experiencing Divine Presence in Byzantine Syria." In Experiencing Byzantium: Papers from the 44th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Newcastle and Durham, April 2011, edited by Claire Nesbitt, and Mark Jackson. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2011. p. 178.
Scott, David A. Ancient Metals: Microstructure and Metallurgy. Vol. 1. Los Angeles: Conservation Science Press, 2011. p. 41.
Evans, Helen C., and Brandie Ratliff, ed. Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition, 7th–9th century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. no. 22i, pp. 4, 8–9, 41–44.
Syria: A Living History. Aga Khan Museum, 2016. p. 42.
Kitzinger, Beatrice E., and Cambridge University Press. The Cross, the Gospels, and the Work of Art in the Carolingian Age. Cambridge, 2019. p. 226 (p. 50 n. 56).
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