Tip of a Pointer

Date:: 1080–1150

Geography:: Made in Constantinople

Culture:: Byzantine

Medium:: Cloisonné enamel, gold

Dimensions:: Overall: 1 x 1/2 in. (2.5 x 1.3 cm)

Classification:: Enamels-Cloisonné

Credit Line:: Purchase, Louis V. Bell Fund and Henry G. Keasbey Bequest, 1997

Accession Number:: 1997.235

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 304

This delicately wrought and finely detailed tip of a pointer, or, less likely, a scepter, is one of the outstanding examples of cloisonné enameling produced during the Middle Byzantine era. Intimate in scale, it is entirely covered in elaborate foliate and geometric designs predominately worked in white, red, and translucent blue enamels. Ladderlike strips of cloisons in translucent green enamel separate the decorative patterns on the sides and hide the angles of the hexagonal form. The top is a flat dome; the base is finished with alternating lobes and semicircles. The enameled patterns are similar to designs found in Byzantine manuscript illuminations of the period. This tiny masterpiece was probably the end of a long pointer used to assist the speaker during the public reading of a manuscript.

The refinement of the decoration and the outstanding craftsmanship suggest that this is one of a small group of works associated with the imperial capital of Constantinople and possibly made for the royal court.

Adolphe Stoclet, Brussels; Mme. Feron-Stoclet, Brussels (by 1956); Private Collection, Switzerland (by 1997); [ Brimo de Laroussilhe, Paris (sold 1997)]

van Goidsenhoven, Jules Pierre. Adolphe Stoclet Collection. Vol. 1. Brussels: Jules Pierre van Goidsenhoven, 1956. p. 166, fig. d, ill. pp. 167, 169.

Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom, ed. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. no. 175, p. 249.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1997-1998." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 56, no. 2 (Fall 1998). p. 15.

Wixom, William D., ed. Mirror of the Medieval World. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999. no. 104, p. 89.

Evans, Helen C., Melanie Holcomb, and Robert Hallman. "The Arts of Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 58, no. 4 (Spring 2001). p. 44.

Evans, Helen C., ed. The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions – Online Catalogue. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008.

Timelines
Balkan Peninsula, 1000-1400 A.D.

"Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1997–1998": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 56, no. 2 (Fall, 1998)
Mirror of the Medieval World
"The Arts of Byzantium": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 58, no. 4 (Spring, 2001)

Department

Medieval Art (7,095)

Object Type / Material

Geographic Location