RARE CROIX BYZANTINE EN OR, ÉMAUX, PIERRES ET... Lot n° 32

Pectoral cross "enkolpion" in pure gold (24 carats), set with colored stones, decorated with the figure of the crucified Christ in full cloisonné polychrome enamel, in a protruding border delimited by a frieze of seed pearls, provided with a hinged bracket, decorated with filigree as well as the lower border of the cross. Good condition, the cross has been cleaned, some missing enamel, one stone missing. Byzantine art, Constantinople, circa 1100. H. 11.5 x W. 8 cm. Gross weight : 80,70 g. History One of the treasures of Byzantine art is the enamel decoration on precious metals on objects of the highest quality. This cross is exactly the kind of wearable object that made its way to the West during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a process that found its ultimate expression in the sack of Constantinople of the Fourth Crusade at the instigation of the Venetians in 1204. This enamel is of a type generally called "typical" Byzantine enamel. In other words, it is set in gold, where the contours of the figure of Christ are prominent. Inside, gold threads were used to form the compartments to be filled by the enamel. This type of enamel, a combination in effect of cloisonné and champlevé, produces an image sometimes referred to by the German term "Senkschmelz". Researchers believe that the first example of this technique occurs on the reliquary of the True Cross in the cathedral treasure of Limburg an der Lahn, made between 963 and 989. The technique remained popular in the Byzantine world until the twelfth century, the destruction of Constantinople having led to the fall of the production of enamel works in the thirteenth century. A triptych depicting the Deisis in gold, silver and cloisonné enamels, with comparable figures, Constantinople, 11th-12th century, is in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (inv. W-1192). Provenance: Sale Kohn, Drouot, November 29, 2007, lot 4. Literature: - Klaus Wessel, Byzantine Enamels, Greenwich, CT, New York Graphic Society Ltd, 1967. - Marian Campbell, An Introduction to Medieval Enamels, Owings Mills, Maryland, Stemmer House Publishers, Inc, 1983. - Buckton David (ed.), Byzantium: treasures of Byzantine art and culture from British collections. London, British Museum Press, 1994. - Cormack Robin & Vassilaki Maria (ed.), Byzantium, 330-1453. London, Royal Academy of Arts, 2008. - E. Gagarina, Byzantine Antiquities, Works of Art from the Fourth to Fifteenth Centuries in the Collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, Moscow, 2013.