Byzantine-Style Dress Ornament

Description The center of this thin dress ornament, which would have been sewn onto a garment through the four holes, is dominated by an imperial cross. The two globes on either side of it represent the two empires (East and West), ruled by two-emperors during the 2nd half of the 5th century. Testing of the extensive enamel decoration revealed this to be a skilled forgery and not a Byzantine piece, as it was long believed to be.

Exhibitions

• Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1947.
• Jewelry - Ancient to Modern. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1979-1980.
• To Arrest the Ravages of Time: Caring for Art at the Walters. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1996.
• 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.
• Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry. El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso. 2010.

Provenance Collection of Madame X (Behague?) Sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, November 5, 1925, lot 84; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1925