Anonymous (tenth/eleventh century)
Obverse
Two angels, traces of wearing the imperial loros, standing in profile, flanking and holding a patriarchal cross; no surviving inscription. Border of dots.
Reverse
An uncertain equestrian saint riding towards the right; his right hand is indistinct while raising his left arm toward heaven; no surviving inscription. Border of dots.
Obverse
Two angels, traces of wearing the imperial loros, standing in profile, flanking and holding a patriarchal cross; no surviving inscription. Border of dots.
Reverse
An uncertain equestrian saint riding towards the right; his right hand is indistinct while raising his left arm toward heaven; no surviving inscription. Border of dots.
| Accession number | BZS.1955.1.1748 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 21.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 7, no. 18.2. |
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 7: The Iconographic Seals (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Usually when equestrian military saints are depicted they are not rendered with a raised arm towards heaven. This gesture calls to mind an equestrian Constantine who beheld the vision of the cross in the sky before his military victory over Maxentius at the Milvian bridge. The figure of our seal is similar to the depiction of the equestrian Constantine and his celestial vision before the Milvian bridge found on folio 440r of the ninth-century illustrated manuscript of the Homilies of Gregory Nazianzus, Paris. Gr. 510. The identification of our equestrian figure as Constantine is strengthened by the image of the cross flanked by adoring angels on the opposite side.
Parallel to Istanbul, no. 11.142, where the editors offer a later date and different identification of the figures flanking the cross.