Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History


    • Pectoral with Coins and Pseudo–Medallion, ca. 539–550
    Byzantine; Said to have been found in Egypt
    Gold with niello; H. (including neck ring) 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm)
    Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.1664)

    This imposing neck ring may have been made for an aristocrat or general associated with the Byzantine court. The large central medallion, formed from two gold sheets worked in repoussé, depicts an unidentified emperor on the front and a personification of a city, probably Constantinople, on the back. The gold coins date from Theodosius II (r. 408–50) to 539, when Justinian (r. 527–65) changed his portrait type, suggesting that the necklace was made about this time. A framed, solid-gold imperial medallion of Theodosius I (r. 379–95), found in the same hoard, probably once hung from the pectoral.

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Brown, Katharine Reynolds "Documents in Gold." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 28, no. 6 (February, 1970).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Gómez-Moreno, Carmen,and Thomas Hoving "Gold." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 31, no. 2 (Winter, 1972–73).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Evans, Helen C., Melanie Holcomb, and Robert Hallman "The Arts of Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 58, no. 4 (Spring, 2001).
    JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs
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    • Pectoral with Coins and Pseudo-Medallion, ca. 539–550
    Byzantine; Said to have been found in Egypt
    Gold with niello; H. (including neck ring) 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm)
    Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.1664)

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