Byzantine Gold Filigree Pendant

Substantial cross pattée with pierced lobes to the vertical arms, each end provided with a link and hook; lateral arms pieced to accept similar links; intended for the suspension of polycandela multiple-candle chandeliers. 1.12 kg, 55.5 cm including hook



Ex Surrey, UK, collection of a gentleman, 1960-2000s.

In 563 A.D., Paul the Silentiary visited Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and described the wondrous lighting effects, ‘Thus is everything clothed in beauty…no words are sufficient to describe the illumination in the evening: you might say that some nocturnal sun filled the majestic church with light.’ The church was lit by polycandela, an early type of candelabra that held glass oil lamps rather than candles. The lamps were either conical or shaped like round bowls with an elongated stem attached beneath. Amidst the burning of incense and the chanting of prayers, the flickering light must have helped to inspire pious devotion. Contemporaries certainly attest to this feeling and among the surviving accounts, that of Arculf, Bishop of Gaul, is particularly affecting. In 670 he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and visited the Church of the Ascension, ‘…to the customary light of the eight lamps…on the night of the feast of the Lord’s Ascension it is usual to add innumerable other lamps; and under the terrible and wondrous gleaming of these, pouring out copiously through the shutters of the windows, all Mount Olivet seems not alone to be illuminated, but even to be on fire, and the whole city, situated on the lower ground nearby, seems to be lit up.’

In the form of the letter 'L' with scrolled wire within the angle and punched triangle detailing to the plate; pin-lug and catchplate to the reverse. 4.25 grams, 24 mm



Previously acquired on the London art market in the 1980s. Property of a Kent lady collector.

Piriform in profile with two thick lug handles to the shoulder, obverse with low-relief facing figure holding a large cross and orb, reverse with facing figure with hand held up in the orans posture; with a display stand. 47.2 grams, 77 mm (71.4 grams total, 91 mm including stand)



Ex private collection, Mrs L.S., 1990s. Acquired from the above, 2001. Private European collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12110-218216.