LOT 0178

Byzantine Nephrite Icon Fragment with Christ Blessing

11TH CENTURY A.D.

1 1/2 in. (38 grams, 40 mm).

Fragment of a figure carved in the half-round, with pleated garment, holding a book with a cross in the left hand and touching its edge with the right hand; to the reverse, a low-relief cross with knops to the angles, abbreviated legends 'IC / XC / NI / KA' for 'Jesus Christ is Victorious' in seriffed capitals in the spandrels of the cross, each with a superscript macron.

New Forest, UK, collection, 1950s.
Alexander Cotton collection, UK, 1970-1980s.
London gallery 1990s, latterly a London gentleman's collection, 2000s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12912-244440.

Cf. for similar icons Kalavrezou-Maxeiner, I., Byzantine Icons in steatite, Wien, 1985, pls. 5 (Deesis, Leningrad, Hermitage), 48 (Thasos, Museum, Deesis); Evans, H.C., Wixom, W.D., The glory of Byzantium, art and culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261, New York, 1997, figs.127-128, for similar iconography.

This magnificent, if fragmentary, icon belongs to the most florid period of Byzantium’s renaissance, when, under the aegis of the Macedonian Dynasty, the political, military, cultural and economic power of the Roman Empire reached the last apex of its glory. The figure detailed in bloodstone here represents Christ, as is clear not only from the cross engraved on the back, but also from the garments he is wearing. It is likely that it is Christ as Pantocrator who is represented, maybe originally forming part of a more complex icon representing the Deesis. While this subject in Eastern Roman art is usually reserved for monumental decoration, it is sometimes found on smaller-scale objects as well, such as cameos and steatite icons.