Anonymous (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ on her left arm and gesturing towards him with her right; Christ holds a closed scroll in his left hand and offers a blessing with his right. Sigla: ̅Θ̅Υ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ on her left arm and gesturing towards him with her right; Christ holds a closed scroll in his left hand and offers a blessing with his right. Sigla: ̅Θ̅Υ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.
Reverse
Faint traces of an illegible inscription. Border of dots.
Accession number | BZS.1977.34.17 |
---|---|
Diameter | 27.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 7, no. 8.4. |
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 7: The Iconographic Seals (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Above and below the left-hand sigla on the obverse is a large dot. A similar decorative device is found on another eleventh-century seal accompanying an image of the Virgin but there a dot appears below each of the flanking Marian sigla while above the sigla are the “Tongues of Fire” (Jordanov, Bulgaria 1, no. 9.1 [listed again in his Bulgaria 3, no. 1652]). For a discussion of the device of the “Tongues of Fire” on seals with Marian images, see DO Seals 7, no. 4.5.