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Icon with the Virgin Eleousa
Byzantine, early 14th century
John C. Weber Collection, New York, 2002
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While Byzantine icons were crafted in a variety of media, including
tempera pigment, ivory, steatite, precious metal, and enamel,
the type which seems to have been most rarely produced was the
icon in miniature mosaic. These intimate images of Christ, the
Virgin, and the saints were crafted from tinted marbles, terracotta,
semiprecious stones, colored glass and silver-gilt strips set
into a medium such as beeswax on wooden panel.
Initially appearing during the twelfth century, mosaic icons
experienced an artistic flourishing during the Late Byzantine
period. Approximately thirty-seven mosaic icons attributed to
the late thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century survive to
this day. This very small number is no doubt a small proportion
of the original number produced by Late Byzantine artists.
Mosaic icons were greatly appreciated as wondrous objects of
exceptional beauty and artistic ingenuity. While the materials
used to produce mosaic icons are extremely stable, the
deterioration of a great number of these images is principally
the result of the different responses beeswax and wood have to
varying conditions of temperature and humidity. Yet it is from
these key examples that conservators have gleaned the most
information about the technique and manufacture of miniature
mosaics. The creation of mosaic icons mirrors that of monumental
mosaic programs: the primary differences being that in miniature
mosaics, the flat, square tesserae are inserted into a matrix such
as beeswax, resting on a diminutive wood support. In the case of
wall mosaics, cubic tesserae are inserted into plaster covering
broad expanses of wall and vaulting.
The recent conservation of a mosaic icon in New York has suggested
a great deal concerning the techniques involved with miniature mosaic.
The first step was the scoring of the wooden panel in a squared or
diamond-shaped grid. Next, a layer of translucent wax was placed
over the scored wooden panel and an underdrawing was executed in
this wax layer. Tesserae were then applied to the wax surface.
In certain examples, the interstices between tesserae could be
tinted with additional color to provide a greater degree of
visual subtlety to important areas of the design, such as the
figures’ faces.
Visual Expressions of the Faith
Liturgical Objects | Manuscripts
and Frescoes | Miniature Mosaic Icons | Vestments
and Textiles | Painted Icons
Themes in Late Byzantine Art
1. Introduction | 2. Peoples
of the Byzantine Sphere | 3. Visual Expressions of
the Faith | 4. The Byzantine Sphere
and the Islamic World | 5. The
Byzantine Sphere and the West
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