These nine medallions are from a group of twelve that once surrounded an icon of the archangel Gabriel. The medallions may have been sent as a gift from the Byzantine court to the neighboring Christian state of Georgia. The three medallions across the top form a Deesis, with Christ between the Virgin and Saint John the Forerunner (the Baptist). Below is the hierarchy of the Church: apostles (Saints Peter and Paul), evangelists (Saints Matthew and Luke), theologians (Saint John the Theologian), and, across the base, military saints (Saint George).
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Group 17.190.670-.678
Artwork Details
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Title:Medallion with Saint Paul from an Icon Frame
Date:ca. 1100
Geography:Made in Constantinople
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Gold, silver, and enamel worked in cloisonné
Dimensions:Diam: 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm) Mount: 20 1/2 x 15 x 7/8 in. (52.1 x 38.1 x 2.2 cm)
Classification:Enamels-Cloisonné
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.673
Inscription: Inscribed: In Greek, on each medallion, an identification of the figure represented: Jesus Christ, Mother of God, John the Precursor, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Matthew, Saint Luke, Saint John the Theologian, and Saint George.
Djumati Monastery, Georgia ; Alex W. von Zvenigorodskii, Russia (sold 1910 through Jacques Seligmann); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1910–1913)
Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum. "Exhibition," 1884.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Glory of Byzantium," March 11–July 6, 1997.
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Frimmel, Theodor von. "Review of “Schulz, Johannes. Die Byzantinischen Zellen - emails der Sammlung Swenigorodskoi, ausgestellt im stadtischen Suermondt - Museum in Aachen, Aachen, 1884, ill.”." Repertorium fur Kunstwissenscraft 8 (1885). p. 256.
Linas, Charles de. "Emaillerie Byzantine, la Collection Svenigorodskoi Exposee a Aix-la-Chapelle." Revue de l'Art Chretien 28 (1885). pp. 203, 218.
Kondakov, Nikodim Pavlovich. Geschichte und Denkmäler des byzantinischen Emails. Frankfurt, 1892. p. 271, pl. 5.
Kondakov, Nikodim Pavlovich. "Les Emaux Cloisonnes de la Collection A.W. De Zwenigorodskoi." In Histoire et Monuments des Emaux Byzantins. Frankfurt: Verlag Osterrieth, 1892. pp. 270–271, pl. 4.
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Bock, Franz. Die Byzantinischen Zellenschmelze der Sammlung Zwenigorodskoi, Aix-la-Chapelle. Aachen: La Ruelle'sche Accidenzdruckerei, 1896. p. 397.
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Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 55.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 55.
Duthuit, Georges, and W. F. Volbach. Art Byzantin. Paris: Editions Albert Lévy, 1933. p. 65, fig. B, pl. 64.
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Miner, Dorothy, ed. Early Christian and Byzantine Art: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 1947. no. 526, p. 108.
Weitzmann, Kurt. "Byzantine Art and Scholarship in America." American Journal of Archaeology, 2nd series, 51, no. 4 (1947). pp. 397, 405.
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Seligman, Germain. Merchants of Art: 1880–1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1961. p. 72.
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Wessel, Klaus. Byzantine Enamels from the 5th to the 13th century. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1967. fig. 40.
Frazer, Margaret English. "The Djumati Enamels: A Twelfth-Century Litany of Saints." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 28, no. 6 (February 1970). no. 1, 7, pp. 240–251, fig. 1, 7.
Beeson, Nora B., ed. Guide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. no. 19, p. 214, fig. 19.
The Treasury of San Marco, Venice. Milan: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984. p. 171.
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Stein, Wendy A. How to Read Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. p. 72, fig. 16.
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