Location

104 Late Antiquity

Description

The decorative technique known as granulation had been used in Etruscan, Greek, and Roman jewelry well before this Byzantine piece was made. Granulation is when tiny spheres or “granules” are attached to a piece. It can be seen here in in a rock crystal button decorated with a six-pointed star, with a simply set garnet in the center.

Provenance

(Mrs. Paul Mallon, New York).

1946-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Milliken, William M. “Byzantine Jewelry and Associated Pieces.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 34, no. 7 (1947). p. 171 www.jstor.org

Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.), and Dorothy Eugenia Miner. Early Christian and Byzantine Art, An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, April 25-June 22 [1947]. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1947. cat. no. 459

Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Mentioned: p. 110-113; Reproduced: p. 111

Exhibition history

Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, MD (April 24 -June 24, 1947).

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Button

Byzantium, early Byzantine period, 6th century

Location

Description