Byzantine Gold Filigree Pendant

With flat-section expanding hoop, scrolls and leaf motifs to shoulders; oval bezel with three lines of Greek inscription reciting Κ[ΥΡI]Ε ΒΟΗΘΗI ΑΗΑ (= Lord helps A...A). 4.30 grams, 21.70 mm overall, 19.70 mm internal diameter (approximate size British Q, USA 8, Europe 17.49, Japan 16)



Acquired in the 1980s-1990s. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman.

The inscription on the ring is the typical invocatory formula Kyrie boethei N., which calls directly upon the Lord for help; this form, beside the one calling the Virgin for help as well (Theotokos boethei), is common in the inscriptions of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Conical with thick finial, short tubular neck and two thin lateral loop handles. 18.4 grams, 57 mm



Acquired on the UK art market in the 1990s. Property of a Stowmarket, UK, gentleman.

Corner piece with polished face; an old handwritten label to the side reading 'Stone from "Ananiani's" house Damascus May 1861'. 182 grams, 82 mm



Found Damascus, Syria, in May 1861. UK private collection. Property of a Nottinghamshire gentleman. With a late 19th century handwritten identification label attached.

The Chapel of San Anania is a religious building located in a two-room crypt in Damascus, approximately four meters below the current street level, reachable by descending a staircase of twenty-three steps from the courtyard of a house that traditionally is attributed to Ananias, the Christian martyr who helped Saul (who became Paul the Apostle), baptised him and helped him hide and leave Damascus, after he had attracted the hatred of the Jews who had organised his killing. It is an apse of an Eastern Roman basilica from the 5th-6th century, cited several times by Arab historical sources such as al-Mussalabeh (of the Holy Cross), brought to light by the excavations carried out by the count Eustache de Lorey.