Byzantine Bronze Reliquary Cross Pendant

Large lamp with high pointed body, a partial knob handle and a small filling hole outlined by a ridge; another ridge extending toward the wick-hole, creating a 'channel' decorated with a line; rim divided into two bands, the outer one filled with tondo with birds, the inner one decorated with a stylised cross and geometric pattern on the nozzle. 142 grams, 10 cm



From the collection of Mr W.A. Stewart, Director of School of Arts and Crafts, Cairo, 1919-1929. Acquired Christie's, London, Antiquities, Works of Art and Important Renaissance Bronzes, Plaquettes and Limoges Enamels, 8 July 1981, no.126 (part). From a private Wiltshire, UK, collection. Accompanied by a copy of the relevant Christie's catalogue page.

This type of lamp is a precursor of the early Islamic channel-nozzle lamp, which has a tongue handle. The small knob handle indicates an earlier date, while the channel implies a later date. The lamp, in correspondence with similar lamps found in Israel, can be dated to the 6th-7th century A.D., belonging to the eastern Roman culture or even to the early Islamic period.

Comprising: a discoid lamp with low-relief branch motif surrounding the filler hole; a piriform lamp with a channel connecting the filler hole and nozzle, a low relief scene of a hound chasing a hare on both side of the filler hole, the base with a spoked wheel motif. 180 grams total, 84-88 mm



with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland.

Cross pommee type, bifacial with punched rings to the lobes and central lozenge; some distortion. 4.96 grams, 35 mm



Ex Den of Antiquity, Cambridge, UK. From the private collection of a West London, UK, gentleman, formed since the early 2000s.