The typical image of Saint Peter—with a round face, short hair, and a beard—was established during the first centuries of the Christian church. Here Peter stands holding a cross and gesturing as if preaching. At his waist are the keys to the kingdom of heaven, given to him by Christ (Matthew 16:19). The arch flanked by peacocks under which Peter stands is considered a representation of paradise in early Christian art.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Plaque with Saint Peter
Date:550–600
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Silver, niello, originally partially gilt
Dimensions:Overall: 10 13/16 x 8 1/2 x 1/2 in. (27.4 x 21.6 x 1.3 cm) Overall (Mount with 50.5.1): 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:50.5.2
Found near Antioch, Syria.; [ Kouchakji Frères, Paris (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.
Vatican City. Braccio di Carlo Magno. "Petros Eni - Pietro è qui," October 11, 2006–March 8, 2007.
The Dark Ages: Loan Exhibition of Pagan and Christian Art in the Latin West and Byzantine East. Worcester, Mass.: Worcester Art Museum, 1937. no. 84, p. 36, ill.
Miner, Dorothy, ed. Early Christian and Byzantine Art: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 1947. no. 390, p. 86, pl. LIV.
Downey, Glanville. "The Inscription on a Silver Chalice from Syria in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." American Journal of Archaeology 55, no. 4 (October 1951). p. 349.
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.
Downey, Glanville. "A Processional Cross." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, no. 9 (May 1954). pp. 276, 278.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 9.
Ross, Marvin C. Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. Volume 1: Metalwork, Ceramics, Glass, Glyptics, Painting. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1962. p. 50.
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. 10.
Mango, Marlia Mundell. Silver From Early Byzantium: The Kaper Koraon and Related Treasures. Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1986. no. 45, pp. 18, 28–33, 63, 202–205, fig. 45.1–45.3.
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.
Elbern, Victor. "Ein langobardisches Altarreliquiar in Trient." Aachener Kunstblätter 60 (1994). p. 49, fig. 6.
Elbern, Victor. "Heilige Zeichen im frühbyzantinischen Altarraum." In Arte d'Occidente: Temi e Metodi. Studi in onore di Angiola Maria Romanini, edited by Antonio Cadei. Vol. 2. Rome: Sintesi informazione, 1999. p. 757, fig. 3.
Kondoleon, Christine. Antioch: The Lost Ancient City. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. no. 100, p. 213.
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. 22, 44.
Elbern, Victor. "Heilige Zeichen im frühbyzantinischen Altarraum." In Fructus operis II: Beiträge zur liturgischen Kunst des frühen Mittelalters: zum 85. Gebrutstag des Verfassers in Verbindung mit der Görres-Gesellschaft, edited by Johann Michael Fritz. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2003. p. 81, fig. 3.
Elbern, Victor. "Ein langobardisches Altarreliquiar in Trient." In Fructus operis II: Beiträge zur liturgischen Kunst des frühen Mittelalters: zum 85. Gebrutstag des Verfassers in Verbindung mit der Görres-Gesellschaft, edited by Johann Michael Fritz. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2003. p. 315, fig. 6.
Evans, Helen. "Rappresentazioni dei Santi Pietro e Paolo nell'arte paleocristiana." In Petros Eni - Pietro è qui. Rome: Braccio di Carlo Magno, 2006. no. V.1, pp. 205–207.
Kitzinger, Beatrice E., and Cambridge University Press. The cross, the Gospels, and the work of art in the Carolingian Age. Cambridge, 2019. p. 226 (p. 49 n. 55).
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