The typical image of Saint Paul—with a long face, receding hairline, and pointed beard—was established during the first centuries of the Christian church. Here Paul holds a book, an appropriate symbol for the author of many of the texts of the New Testament. This plaque and the one showing Saint Peter under a similar arch may have flanked a lost central panel depicting Christ, as parts of an icon, or religious devotional image.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Plaque with Saint Paul
Date:550–600
Geography:Made in Antioch or Kaper Koraon (?)
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Silver, originally partially gilt
Dimensions:Overall: 10 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 9/16 in. (27.3 x 21.6 x 1.5 cm) Overall (Mount with 50.5.2): 15 x 22 x 7/8 in. (38.1 x 55.9 x 2.2 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1950
Accession Number:50.5.1
Found near Antioch, Syria, ca. 1908–10; [ Kouchakji Frères, Paris and New York (by 1913)]; [ Fahim Joseph Kouchakji, New York (sold 1950)]
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Pavillon de Marsan. "Exposition internationale d'art byzantin," May 28–July 9, 1931.
Worcester Art Museum. "The Dark Ages, loan exhibition of early Christian and Byzantine art," February 20–March 21, 1937.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Early Christian and Byzantine art, an exhibition held at the Baltimore Museum of Art," April 25–June 22, 1947.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The history of bookbinding, 525-1950 A.D.," November 12, 1957–January 12, 1958.
British Museum. "Wealth of the Roman world: Gold and silver, AD 300-700," April 1–September 30, 1977.
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.
Walters Art Museum. "Silver from Early Byzantium," April 18–August 17, 1986.
Worcester Art Museum. "Antioch: The Lost Ancient City," October 7, 2000–February 4, 2001.
Toronto. Aga Khan Museum. "Syria: An Unbroken History," October 15, 2016–February 26, 2017.
The Dark Ages: Loan Exhibition of Pagan and Christian Art in the Latin West and Byzantine East. Worcester, Mass.: Worcester Art Museum, 1937. no. 83, p. 36.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Eighty-First Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1950." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 10, no. 1 (Summer 1951). p. 26.
Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979. no. 554, pp. 618–19.
Frazer, Margaret English. "Medieval Church Treasuries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 43, no. 3 (Winter 1985-1986). p. 16, fig. 9.
Mango, Marlia Mundell. Silver From Early Byzantium: The Kaper Koraon and Related Treasures. Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1986. no. 44, pp. 18, 28–33, 63, 199–201, fig. 44.1–44.3.
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. pp. 7, 31, pl. 18.
Durand, Jannic, ed. Byzance: L'Art Byzantin dans les Collections Publiques Françaises. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1992. p. 116.
Kondoleon, Christine. Antioch: The Lost Ancient City. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. no. 99, p. 212.
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. 22.
Syria: A Living History. Aga Khan Museum, 2016. p. 42.
Kitzinger, Beatrice E., and Cambridge University Press. The cross, the Gospels, and the work of art in the Carolingian Age. Cambridge, 2019. pp. 49, 226 (p. 49 n. 55).
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