A Byzantine Gold Cross Pendant, ca. 5th - 6th century CE
This object qualifies for free USA shipping and a flat rate fee of $75 if shipping internationally.
This elegant devotional pendant is fashioned from a single sheet of high-karat gold cut into a broad-armed Latin cross with gently expanding terminals. The obverse is richly ornamented in repoussé with concentric circular bosses arranged along each arm and at the intersection of the cross, enclosed within finely executed beaded borders. The reverse is plain, and a separately formed suspension loop is attached to the upper arm, allowing the pendant to be worn.
The repeated circular motifs carried both an ornamental and protective significance. Such designs occur widely in Late Roman and Early Byzantine metalwork, alluding to divine light, eternity, and apotropaic protection from the feared "evil eye". Later Christian tradition associated groups of five with the "The Five Stigmata" or five wounds of Christ. The circles on the north arm represent the wound from the crown of thorns, the two sides, the nails in his hands, the bottom, the nails in his feet, and finally, the middle circle, the spear wound to his side. The circles also represent the five wells: "the Well of Pity, the Well of Mercy, the Well of Grace, the Well of Comfort," and "the Well of Everlasting Life."
The cross was intended to be worn as a personal devotional object and reflects the increasing importance of the cross as a symbol of faith and protection in the Early Byzantine period.
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