Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History


    • Silver Plate with David and Goliath, 629–630
    Byzantine; Made in Constantinople
    Silver; Diam. 19 1/2 in. (49.4 cm), D. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
    Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.396)

    This beautiful and exceptionally important plate is the largest of a set of nine showing scenes from the life of the Old Testament king David. Six belong to the Metropolitan Museum while three are in the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia. The group was discovered in 1902 in Karavás (northern Cyprus) sealed with a hoard of jewelry and gold, much of which is also now in the Metropolitan's collection. Originally the smaller plates were arranged around the largest, the one shown here depicting David's combat with Goliath. On the backs of all the plates are the control stamps of the emperor Heraclius, who may have commissioned them to celebrate his victory over the Persians in 628–29, which resulted in the recapture of Jerusalem. During the war, it is said that Heraclius fought the Persian general Razatis in single-handed combat, an event that is perhaps evoked in the depiction of David's defeat of Goliath. Imperial imagery is present also on other plates, where ceremonial scenes from the biblical king's life are set before the arcade of a palace. Their style is a conscious reference to classical art. The plates may have been ordered for display in the banquet hall of a member of the Byzantine aristocracy.

    This work of art also appears on 82nd & Fifth: Cinematic

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Weitzmann, Kurt. "The Late Roman World." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 35, no. 2 (Autumn, 1977).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Weitzmann, Kurt. "Prolegomena to a Study of the Cyprus Plates." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 3 (1970).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Wander, Steven H.. "The Cyprus Plates: The Story of David and Goliath." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 8 (1973).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Morales, Esther M., Michael B. Norris, Alice W. Schwarz, and Edith W. Watts. A Masterwork of Byzantine Art: The David Plates, the Story of David and Goliath
  • Strouse, Jean. "J. Pierpont Morgan: Financier and Collector." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 57, no. 3 (Winter, 1999–2000).
    JSTOR | PDF
    • On view: Gallery 301
    Move Separator Print
    Close
    • Silver Plate with David and Goliath, 629–630
    Byzantine; Made in Constantinople
    Silver; Diam. 19 1/2 in. (49.4 cm), D. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
    Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.396)

    Move
    Close