拍品 200
200
Theodora, porphyrogenita, circular inscription **, bust of Christ bearded, facing, as before, in fields to left and right **, rev. bust of Theodora, facing, wearing crown, chiton, divitision and loros, holding sceptre with trefoil top in left hand, her right hand half lifted in supplication, 41.33g., (Gray-Birch, Seals 17454; ZV 82a), extremely fine

細節
Theodora, porphyrogenita, circular inscription **, bust of Christ bearded, facing, as before, in fields to left and right **, rev. bust of Theodora, facing, wearing crown, chiton, divitision and loros, holding sceptre with trefoil top in left hand, her right hand half lifted in supplication, 41.33g., (Gray-Birch, Seals 17454; ZV 82a), extremely fine

拍品專文

The most beautiful example of this seal known. The empress Theodora came to power in January 1055, and ruled until her death in August 1056. She was only the second woman to become sole ruler of the Byzantine state, the first being Irene (797-802). She had ruled jointly for a matter of weeks with her older sister Zoe in 1042. Neither empress had children, and with the death of Theodora the line of Basil the Macedonian came to an end after nearly 200 years.