Byzantine Silver Cross Pendant

Rectangular leather case with turned and seamed end (vertical seam absent); reverse with tooled panels of foliage and tendrils in rectangular frames, obverse with large tooled rosette in a tondo on a hatched field with geometric frame. 130 grams, 45 cm



Acquired from the London trade. Ex central London gallery.

Flat-section hoop displaying geometric pierced work between raised bands, fluted hemispherical bezel adorned with granules and set with possibly a later polished cabochon sapphire. 8.66 grams, 33.78 mm overall, 16.94 mm internal diameter (approximate size British M 1/2, USA 6 1/4, Europe 13.09, Japan 13)



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.201084.

The frontal section of an enkolpion, with the representation of crucified Jesus among Saint Mary and Saint John; Christ dressed in a long tunic (colobium) decorated with parallel stripes (clavi) and patterned hatches, his head turned to the right; his wounds on the cross are marked by nails; the cross standing upon a small hill, identified by rare inscription 'Ο ΤΟΠΟС КРАΝΙΟΥ' (a place of a skull, Matthew 27:33), indicating Golgota; the titulum with inscription 'Ι(ΗСΟΥ)С X(ΡΙ СΤΟ)C' (Jesus Christ), and the sun (left) with the moon (right); the central inscription corresponds to the words of the Gospel of John 19:26: 'here is your son, (ΙΔΕ Ο Υ {ΙΟ} С {C}ΟΥ ) here is your Mother (ΙΔΟΥ Η ΜΗΤ{Η}Ρ CΟΥ)'. 56.5 grams, 86 mm



Formerly in a 1980s collection. Acquired on the UK art market. Previously the property of an Essex gentleman.

Usually the reliquary crosses or enkolpia, were composed of two separate halves, inside of which a relic of a saint was contained; this could have been a piece of cloth or a bone. This extraordinary piece is very rare due to containing part of the Gospel of John about the Crucifixion.