Casket with Warriors in Combat
(Byzantium and Early Russia)
This casket depicts nude putti in combative poses using various weapons, and in some cases their bare hands. Each figure is shown in its own rectangular frame, separated by vegetal scrolls and linear motifs. The object gives us a good impression of the lighter, at times comical quality of Byzantine secular art. Such boxes were probably used to hold valuables or important documents.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Tycon and Smith, Paris, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1929, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
1987-1992 | Artful Deception: The Craft of the Forger. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, Grosse Pointe Shores; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City; Portland Museum of Art, Portland; The Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix; Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison; Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester; The Barnum Museum, Bridgeport. |
1947 | Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. |
Geographies
Turkey, Istanbul (Constantinople) (Place of Origin)
Measurements
4 5/16 x 11 13/16 x 7 in. (11 x 30 x 17.8 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1929
Location in Museum
Centre Street: Third Floor: Byzantine, Russian, and Ethiopian Icons
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
71.115