The Attarouthi Treasure
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Byzantine, Northern Syria, 6th-7th century
Silver, silver gilt
Largest chalice h. 91 3/16 in. (20.4 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. (1986.3.1-15)
The treasure, probably buried when Islamic forces threatened, consists of fifteen objects--ten chalices, three censers, a wine strainer, and a dove--found buried in a giant terracotta cauldron in the vicinity of the ancient town of Attarouthi, a stopping point on trade routes. They constitute a portion of the liturgical vessels normally employed in the Christian church service.
The chalices were used to hold the wine to be used during the Liturgy. The Greek inscriptions on two of the chalices read, "Of Saint Stephen of the village of Attarouthi," identifying them as gifts of the town's residents to the church of Saint Stephen.
Most of the chalices are decorated with upright frontal figures. Christ appears as a beardless young man. The Virgin is shown in the praying, or orans, position. Military saints, archangels, and unknown ecclesiastical figures are also depicted. The figures are worked from the inside and then raised from the outside with a blunt tool, and the details are incised or engraved. All the decoration is gilded.
The dove was probably suspended over the altar from a chain. In Christian iconography the dove represents the Holy Spirit that descended over Christ when he was baptized by Saint John. Rendered to suggest flight, the dove's body is made of one single sheet of hammered silver; the wings were made separately and inserted into slits in its shoulders.
The censers are decorated with crosses and bust-length figures of Christ and the saints in medallions. They retain their copper linings, designed to hold combustible material. The undecorated strainer would have been used to remove impurities from the wine before it was sanctified.
Classroom Hints:
Notice: decoration, material
Discuss: function of the objects, why the containers look like they belong to a set, their discovery
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