Reliquary Pendant with Virgin and Child

Description This exceptional pendant consists of a reliquary cross inside a hinged case with six small adjacent compartments for relics. The impressive amethyst cameo depicting the Virgin and Child on the lid is surrounded by cabochon rubies and emeralds alternating with pearls. The cross and the outer edge of the case are adorned with additional pearls, and the back of the case is decorated in a similar fashion, omitting the central cameo. A ground of dense filigree covers the front and back of the case, while the inside as well as the inscription and the Crucifixion scene on the cross are done in niello. The text identifies the donor, location, and the time when the piece was crafted, which is rare in Post-Byzantine jewelry: the cross was dedicated by the Metropolitan Arsenios of Serres, a town in northern Greece, to the monastery of St. John on the island of Chalke near Constantinople in the middle of the 16th century.

Exhibitions

• Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1947.
• New York World's Fair 1964: Protestant and Orthodox Pavilion. Protestant and Orthodox Pavilion, New York World's Fair, New York. 1964.
• Jewelry - Ancient to Modern. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1979-1980.
• The Taste of Maryland: Art Collecting in Maryland 1800-1934. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984.
• Objects of Adornment: Five Thousand Years of Jewelry from the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota. 1984-1987.
• Jewelry from the Walters Art Museum and the Zucker Family Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1987.
• Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 2004.
• Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry from the Walters Art Museum. Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2006-2009.
• Treasures of Heaven. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The British Museum, London. 2010-2011.

Provenance Metropolitan Arsenios, Serres, Greece; Monastery of the Holy Trinity called Esopotron, Chalke [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Translation] 57.1511A, on amethyst: Mother of God / Jesus Christ; [Translation] 57.1511B, on outer rim of inside face: + Lord, help Arsenius, most holy and venerable metropolitan of Serres and "locum tenens" of Caesaria in Cappadocia; [Translation] 57.1511C, on cross, top: Jesus Christ / The king of the Jews; [Translation] 57.1511C, on face of the cross: Thou hast redeemed us by Thy precious blood, nailed to the cross?; [Translation] 57.1511C, around sides of the cross (a later inscription): Presented by the most holy metropolitan of Serres, Arsenius, to the Monastery of the Holy Trinity called Esoptron on the island of Chalke

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters