This exquisitely vivid image of an educated youth of the powerful port city of Alexandria probably celebrates his success in a musical contest. The medallion, worked in gold on dark blue glass, was made to be mounted and worn as a pendant.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Medallion with a Portrait of Gennadios
Date:250–300
Geography:Made in Alexandria, Egypt
Culture:Roman
Medium:Glass, gold leaf, polychromy
Dimensions:Overall: 1 5/8 x 1/4 in. (4.1 x 0.6 cm)
Classification:Glass-Gold glass
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1926
Object Number:26.258
Inscription: Inscribed in Greek: Gennadios most accomplished in the musical arts
[ Martin Fabiani (French)(sold 1926)]
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 18, 1970–March 29, 1970.
Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 16, 1970–July 5, 1970.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century," November 19, 1977–February 12, 1978.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Good Life: Collecting Late Antique Art at The Met," May 24, 2021–May 7, 2023.
Breck, Joseph. "The Ficoroni Medallion and Some Other Gilded Glasses in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Art Bulletin 9, no. 4 (June 1927). p. 355, fig. 2.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 5.
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Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983. no. 2, p. 338.
Shepard, Mary B. Europe in the Middle Ages, edited by Charles T. Little, and Timothy B. Husband. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. p. 21, pl. 6.
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Ryser, Frieder, and Brigitte Salmen. 'Amalierte Stuck uff Glas / Hinder Glas gemalte Historien und Gemäld': Hinterglaskunst von der Antike bis zur Neuzeit. Murnau am Staffelsee: Schlossmuseum Murnau, 1995. pp. 31–32.
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). pp. 4, 9.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012. p. 180.
Howells, Daniel Thomas. A Catalogue of the Late Antique Gold Glass in the British Museum, edited by Chris Entwistle, and Liz James. London: British Museum Press, 2015. p. 10 n. 70.
Lapatin, Kenneth. Luxus: The Sumptuous Arts of Greece and Rome. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2015. no. no. 56, pp. 87, 236, pl. 56.
Patt, Rachel Catherine. “Probably Alexandria”: Gold-Glass Portraiture and the Allure of Egypt (2024). fig. 1, pp. 222-240.
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