Time spent buried underground has not been kind to most seals. Some few, however, have suffered less from corrosion and wear, and act as a reminder of the skill of Byzantine engravers in creating intricate and elaborate designs: small details, what a figure wears and holds, where they are looking and gesturing, and their size could all carry powerful meaning.
Kekaumenos was the senior military commander on Byzantium’s eastern border. Yet his seal does not depict Michael as commander of the heavenly host but as a surrogate for the emperor. Even for a general on the frontier, Michael’s association with the emperor was more attractive, and more indicative of his efficacy as an intercessor, than his role as a soldier.
The Virgin is the focal point of the design on Nicholas’s. She is the tallest figure and stands on a dais, facing the viewer head on. Thomas and Nicholas turn and gesture toward the Virgin as the focus of their devotion. The saints are shown in their customary dress and with hair particular to their iconography, a remarkable level of detail on such a small object.
Image Sources
- Seal of Katakalon Kekaumenos, magistros and governor-general (doux) of Antioch (1056). BZS.2019.018
- Seal of Nicholas, hypatos, judge of the Hippodrome, and deputy of the governor of Constantinople (symponos) (eleventh century, second half). 1951.31.5.1348, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore
More Exhibit Items
