Medieval and Byzantine Decorative Arts and Devotional Objects

Vocabulary flashcards covering key objects, iconography, materials, techniques, and figures from the lecture notes on medieval and Byzantine art.

Double-Sided Pendant Icon with the Virgin and Christ Pantokrator

A ca. 1100 Byzantine wearable devotional object made of gold and cloisonné enamel in Constantinople, measuring approximately $3.3 \times 2.4\,\text{cm}$.

Christ Pantokrator

An iconographic representation translating to "Ruler of All," depicting Christ blessing and holding the Gospels.

Virgin Hagiosoritissa

The iconographic type that models the Virgin's pose on the reverse of the Double-Sided Pendant Icon, depicting her in three-quarter profile with raised hands praying to Christ on the owner's behalf.

Cloisonné

An enameling technique in which gold wire cells are filled with powdered glass and fired to create intricate designs at a miniature scale.

Attarouthi Chalice

A Byzantine silver and gilded silver liturgical vessel dating to 500–650 from Attarouthi, Syria, measuring about $24\,\text{cm}$ tall with a capacity of $2{,}100\,\text{ml}$.

Court of Heaven

The iconographic grouping depicted on the Attarouthi Chalice, featuring a youthful Christ, the Virgin as orant, John the Forerunner, a deacon saint likely Stephen, a youthful saint with a staff, and an armored dragon-slaying figure.

Eudokia

A donor named in inscriptions on chalices from the Attarouthi treasure who gifted silver to the Church of St. Stephen in fulfillment of a vow and for salvation.

Aquamanile

A vessel designed to pour water for hand washing, used in elite domestic dining contexts for hospitality or in church rituals for priest hand washing.

Aquamanile in the Form of a Lion

A ca. 1200 North German hollow-cast copper alloy vessel weighing $2{,}391\,\text{g}$ with walls $1.5$ to $2.5\,\text{mm}$ thick, depicting a lion grasping a dragon that functions as both handle and spout.

Rock Crystal

A hard, naturally occurring stone valued for its clarity that cannot be cast or molded, requiring labor-intensive carving and polishing by abrasion.

Beaker (17.190.618a, b)

A Parisian luxury vessel dating to 1375–1400 made of carved rock crystal, later remounted with a gilded silver foot.

Enthroned Virgin and Child (17.190.296)

A ca. 1275–1300 French sculpture carved from elephant ivory with traces of paint and gilding, standing $40.6\,\text{cm}$ tall and weighing $10.5\,\text{lb}$, representing one of the largest surviving ivory statues from the later Middle Ages.

J. Pierpont Morgan

The prominent collector who gifted both the 14th-century Paris rock crystal beaker and the 13th-century French ivory Enthroned Virgin and Child to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1917.