Byzantine Gilt Silver Paten w/ Fish & Breadbasket

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Exceptional Day 1: Antiquities & Asian Art

By Artemis Gallery

Sep 26, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-09-26 10:00:00 2019-09-26 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Day 1: Antiquities & Asian Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-day-1-antiquities-asian-art-4437
Day 1 of an important 2-day auction featuring exceptional, museum-worthy examples of Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Viking, Russian, Near Eastern, as well as Asian Art from China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma and India. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Near East/Holy Land, Byzantine Empire, ca. 6th century CE. Wow! An incredible, amazingly preserved piece of devotional art made by early Christians - this is a gilt 96% silver paten (also known as a diskos or communion plate), the plate used for holding the Eucharist. It is extremely rare to find Byzantine liturgical items from this early time period. The interior is shallow and gently concave, with a narrow, raised, flat rim. The rim is incised with a delicate series of interlocking vines and leaves, creating an image of abundance. The interior is similarly incised with a symmetrical mofit of a breadbasket, its interior bearing two crosses and its exterior decorated with an image of wheat grain, surrounded by two fish, an obvious reference to the "Feeding of the 5000" described in all four Gospels when Christ multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed a massive throng who had followed him following the death of John the Baptist. Size: 6.8" W (17.3 cm); 8.1" H (20.6 cm) on included custom stand; silver is 96% pure; total weight is 184.2 grams
  
  The back of this beautiful dish is stamped in several places with now smoothed symbols that would have indicated the reign in which it was made. The 6th century was a golden age in Byzantium, and elite people spent much of their wealth on religious items - liturgical items like this made of gold and silver and church furnishings. Heather Hunter Crawley, writing of the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine liturgical collection in 2012, suggests, "the choice of silver is due to its ability to mirror liturgical action, and thus act as a 'mirror of heaven,' such that the indistinct reflections in the shining silverware can be understood to provide visual and kinesthetic experience of divine presence, not as metaphor, but as reality." Several large treasure hoards such as the Riha Hoard and the Sion Hoard from this time period have been found (both with some items now held by Dumbarton Oaks), many of them south of Byzantium itself - looted by invading Sasanians and Arabians in the 7th century. Many more must have been melted down by the Byzantine authorities to pay the wages of the army who responded to these attacks.
  
  When originally made, this paten would have held the unleavened bread used in the Orthodox Eucharist. Similar known ones depict the institution of the Eucharist as described in the gospels of Matthew (26:26-28) and Mark (14:22-24); the theme of sacred food and the miracles of Jesus connect this paten to them. The question of whether or not to use images in religious practice was a major issue being violently contested around this time period in the Byzantine Empire and elsewhere in the Christian world. Pope Gregory the Great (ca. 540 to 604 CE) argued that images should be used to teach the many members of the Church - indeed, the vast majority - that were illiterate. His opinion allowed artwork like that on this paten to continue, and opened the door for the creation of the icons for which the Orthodox Church, the descendant of the Byzantine one, remains famous today.
  
  Accompanied by Art Loss Register certificate, reference number S00126031.
  
  Provenance: private Connecticut, USA collection; ex-private United Kingdom collection, 2000s; ex-private collection of Carlos Spies, Frankfurt, Germany, sold by his estate
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #149794

  Condition

  Beautifully preserved, with most of the gilt remaining and light deposits on surface. Stamps on the back have smoothed with time and are unreadable. There are a few tiny pits on the metal surface from the casting process.
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