Silver Chalice

Description State officials in the early Byzantine Empire often inspected newly made silver objects and stamped them to attest to the purity of the metal. Four such stamps on the bottom of this cup for Communion wine contain, together with the inspectors' names, the monograms of Emperor Justinian (ruled 527-65) and of his minister Peter (served 547-50). The donor of the chalice was a state official whose name is recorded in the text along the rim: "For the prayer and salvation of the imperial agent Symeonius and of his household."

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
4/01/1947	Treatment	cleaned; coated
6/09/1959	Examination	other
10/01/1959	Treatment	cleaned; coated
1/12/1985	Technical Report	examined for technical study
6/25/1985	Treatment	cleaned
9/19/1986	Treatment	cleaned
2/19/1988	Examination	technical study
2/20/1988	Treatment	other
11/14/1997	Treatment	cleaned
1/01/1999	Loan Consideration	examined for exhibition
5/31/2001	Treatment	coated
12/01/2007	Examination	examined for condition

Exhibitions

• Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1947.
• Silver Treasure from Early Byzantium. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1986.
• Realms of Faith: Medieval and Byzantine Art from the Walters Art Museum. Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville. 2001-2002.
• Realms of Faith: Medieval and Byzantine Art from the Walters Art Museum. Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville. 2002-2005.
• Realms of Faith: Medieval and Byzantine Art from the Walters Art Museum. Museum of Biblical Art, New York; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha. 2008-2009.
• Wine and Spirit: Rituals, Remedies, and Revelry. Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley; Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester. 2010-2011.

Provenance [Excavated in Syria, ca. 1908-1910]; Tawfic Abucasem, Hama and Port Said, ca. 1913, by purchase; Joseph Brummer, Paris, ca. 1928, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1929, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Translation] Encircling the top of the cup: + In fulfillment of a vow and [for] the salvation of SYMEONIOS, magistr[ianos], and of THOSE WHO BELONG TO HIM; [Stamp] Five stamps inside the foot

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1929