A SILVER CHALICE | Christie's

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

A SILVER CHALICE

Details

A SILVER CHALICE
BYZANTINE, PROBABLY 6TH CENTURY

With an extensive Syriac inscription around the lip of the bowl.
In an excavated state; the bowl and the foot in two separate pieces.
9¾in. (24.8cm.) high

Provenance

This and the three following lots were acquired circa 1980, and subsequently bequeathed to the present owner.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
E.C. Dodd, Byzantine Silver Treasures, Bern, 1973, pp. 13-24, nos. 4-5
Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, Silver from Early Byzantium: The Kaper Koraon and Related Treasures, 1986, nos. 1-3, 27-30

Lot Essay

The present chalice, which may be compared with a number of other examples dating from the 5th-7th centuries (Dodd and Baltimore, locs. cit.), is a particularly grand example of the genre. The simplicity of the bowl is pleasingly balanced by the more elaborate foliate decoration of the foot.

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