Emulation of Luxury in Glass

Anastassios C. Antonaras, Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki

#Retour à la publication Imprimer la page
Essais

Introduction
Marielle Martiniani-Reber, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève
André-Louis Rey, Université de Genève

Crédits
Actes du colloque international "Autour des métiers du luxe à Byzance"
Œuvres

Emulation of precious stones is the quintessential reason for the invention of glass in the second millennium B.C. Glass was conceived as an opaque, brightly coloured material that imitated precious stones like hematite, lapis lazuli and, later on, agate. It has been used in the form of inlays and gems as a substitute for precious stones ever since1 .

In the Augustan era, the production of mosaic glass moved from Egypt to Rome, with several different new products, which were rendering colorful types of marbles2 . Monochromatic and polychromatic glass opus sectile mosaic elements were used in large-scale projects during the early Imperial Roman period, as the numerous finds from the villa of Lucius Verus (r. 161–169) indicate3 . Emulation of gemmed jewels in glass opus sectile appears there for the first time as square green glass gems set in yellow frames, emulating emeralds set in gold. The production of mosaic glass vessels and glass incrustations met a new impetus in Egypt, and possibly in Rome as well, during the third and fourth centuries A.D. Several panels are preserved in Greece, Italy, and Egypt with representations of marine themes, religious and genre scenes, and human figures, all of which are probably Egyptian products4 . The tradition of using colorful glass plaques in opus sectile intarsia decorations continues at least up to the Middle Byzantine period. Fifth-century examples are preserved on the walls of the basilica of St. Demetrios in Thessaloniki (fig. 1a-b), continuing the late Roman tradition where the turquoise glass plaques were used as crustae, cut in a special shape and used as pieces of colorful marble5 .

Fig. 1. Opus sectile on the east side of the wall over the tribelon. St. Demetrios Basilica, Thessaloniki and detail of the glass crustae, fifth century (photo: Th. Kartsoglou)

In the sixth-century Constantinopolitan monuments of St. Polyeuktos, St. Euphemia, and St. John the Forerunner in the Hebdomon, a different aesthetic approach is visible6 , wherein jewellery-making techniques were used in sculpture. Amethyst-coloured lozenges, inscribed by opaque green and gold glass pieces cut in geometrical forms were used as insets in marble objects, like column shafts (fig. 2), rendering in a large-scale a technique, which had been used until then only in jewellery making. The same technique survived, or was revived and used later, in the tenth century in Boukoleon Palace (fig. 3), which was part of the imperial palace in Constantinople; in Lips Church in Constantinople; and in Preslav7 . In addition, a flat, rectangular marble piece, filled with rows of lozenges and triangles of dark blue glass crustae was reused in the central omphalion of St. Sophia in its restoration after a 1346 earthquake8 . Yet another emulation of precious materials in glass, are gold-glass tiles, which were quite widely used, particularly in the sixth century, in the decoration of important ecclesiastical buildings. They appear in three variants (fig. 4a, b, c): plain, like huge golden tesserae of particular shapes, triangular, or as curved bands; with four gold foils forming a cross-like motif; and others with impressed motifs of rosettes, crosses, etc.9 .

Fig. 2. Gem studed column shaft, St. Polyeuktos, Istanbul, sixth century (© Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, photo: S. Pedone)

Fig. 3 Gem studded arch, Boukoleon Palace, Istanbul, tenth century (© Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, photo: A. Antonaras)

Fig. 4a. Gold Glass tiles, St. Demetrios Basilica, Thessaloniki, fifth century (© Museum of Byzantine Culture, photo: Th. Kartsoglou)

Fig. 4b. Gold glass tile from Nikopolis, sixth century (© Ephorate of Antiquities of Preveza)

Fig. 4c. Gold glass tiles from Caesaria Maritima, sixth century (© Israel Antiquities Authority, photo: A. Antonaras)

Jewellery is a domain in which glass was often substituted for precious stones in toto or in conjunction with real stones10 . Jet, a kind of lignite, became very fashionable in the late third and early fourth centuries. Given that the natural sources were limited, dark purple and green – seemingly black – glass was used to emulate jet jewels, mainly in bracelets and spacer beads, which were quite widely distributed in both eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire11 .

Fig. 5. Glass bracelets and rings, Amorium, eleventh century (© The Amorium Excavations Project)

Glass rings were known in the early Imperial Roman time, notably in the first century A.D.12 . They do not occur in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine eras, but they reappear in Middle Byzantine era, made of a bent rod of colourless or dark blue glass, which was crowned with a small, colourful gob of glass on the bezel, emulating a precious stone prototype13 . (fig. 5) This production technique seems to be directly connected to the production technique and site(s) of glass bracelets from the same period. Quite indicative of this connection is the scar visible at the middle of the length of the rod that forms the ring14 . This same scar is typical of contemporaneous glass bracelets as well and it appears to be an idiosyncratic feature of the middle-Byzantine glass industry.

Fig. 6. Bronze ring with glass gem, Philippi, tenth and eleventh centuries (© Museum of Byzantine Culture)

Simple plano-convex glass gems were shaped by firing small pieces, or chunks, of glass. It appears that the perfectly smooth upper surface of the gems could not be produced simply by dripping molten glass and that they were made by recycling small pieces of glass. The chunks, when heated enough, would melt and fuse into a discoid mass, which formed automatically (with a height between 0.5 and 0.8 cm) by the interaction between gravity and the high surface tension of the glass15 . Mosaic glass gems appeared in Hellenistic and early Roman times, but they are quite rare16 . They were used as insets or game counters from the eighth century B.C., but these plain gems were used in jewellery only from Late Antique times onwards. Such gems could have been produced in any Mediterranean workshop, particularly in the Roman Imperial period17 . In the early Imperial period along with single-coloured glass gems, multicoloured gems were also produced, and these emulated agate and other banded stones, almost invariably bearing intaglio motifs18 .

In the late Imperial period single-colored intaglios were primarily used19 . The wide distribution of the glass gems becomes quite evident among the others from the research of Hélène Guiraud, who has calculated that in a large group of third- and fourth-century finds from different sites in France, glass gems account for 53% of the total, and most are actually imitations of nicolo gems20 . From the late Antique period and throughout the Byzantine era, small plano-convex gems were regularly used singly, in the embellishment of metal jewels, substituting for semiprecious stones21 . (fig. 6)

A very successful and widely used replica of a precious stone in glass is represented by the so-called nicolo gems. Nicoli consist of a dark-coloured, body that appears to be black, and the top surface is covered by a thin layer of turquoise glass on which a wide variety of intaglio, mainly mythological themes, were depicted. These products first appear in the late first century B.C. bearing intaglio decoration, with portraits and mythological themes. (fig. 7) They reappear in the second, third, and probably fourth centuries A.D., slightly smaller in size and more slender and regular in shape. They were decorated with simple mythological scenes, and they circulated throughout the Roman Empire. Several examples of these Late Roman gems have been found in Western Europe, the Balkans, and Anatolia22 . (fig. 8a-b) The latest published example, with a Christian iconographical theme, is attributed to the sixth – early seventh century23 . In addition, a replication of nicoli appeared in German lands, the Netherlands and Scandinavia between the eleventh and the fourteenth centuries, known as Alsengemen24 . In general, their size varies, but they are usually small (ca. 1.3–1.8 cm) and ellipsoidal in shape. They are truncated conical in cross section in order to render visible the dark-coloured lower layer of glass and accentuate the striking difference with the upper, turquoise layer. In addition, this shape of cross section was more convenient for its safe insertion in settings in jewels, mostly rings. Gems of the same type were also used plain, without intaglio motive on them, on larger objects like the fourth-century parade helmets unearthed in Pannonian Srem in Berkasovo and in Budapest25 . They were such a desired commodity that a local, less-successful attempt to replicate them was identified in Barga, Portugal26 .

Fig. 7. Glass nicoli, inv. MF 2479, MF 2860, MF 2490 et MF 2881, top and side view, 1st century (© MAH Musée d’art et d’histoire, Ville de Genève, don de Walther Fol, 1871)

Fig. 8 a-b. Glass nicoli from Louloudies Kitrous and Thessaloniki, top and side view, fourth century (© Museum of Byzantine Culture, photo: Th. Kartsoglou)

Most glass nicoli are evidently cast. They are ellipsoidal in shape and are truncated conical in cross section. The sides are smooth and no gap is visible between the two layers of glass. There are some misshaped cast examples with almost vertical sides and an uneven lower part. Judging by inspection of few broken examples, the sides and the lower part of the mould were probably filled with powdered turquoise glass, and the interior of the gem filled with dark-coloured glass. In other cases, a thin layer of dark glass was applied on the oblique sides of the mould, and thus the turquoise was visible only on the upper surface and its immediate periphery, whilst the dark core was visible in the bottom of the intaglio on the upper and lower surfaces. The real colour of the dark core is not always discernible, but in some cases it consists of purple glass and in others of dark brown or amber glass27 .

Finally, some of the undecorated, round nicoli were not cast but rather fired. The proof that they were fired is visible at the edges of both layers, which are not as crisp as they would have been if they had been cast in a mould. The circumference of the lower side is a little bit rounded, a feature visible even on the oblique but flattened sides of a larger example from Macedonia28 . The same is visible on the upper, fine turquoise layer as well.

A very special find, a gold-plated parade helmet, found in Berkasovo by Sid in Serbia, (fig. 9a-b) is quite enlightening regarding the use of glass gems and their different types in a single object. It is embellished with three kinds of glass gems, each appearing in several shapes and sizes: round, octagonal, and smaller lozenge-shaped nicoli; oblong and smaller lozenge-shaped translucent green ones; and ellipsoidal ones that resembled multilayered onyx – probably sardonyx – with a milky-white thin band between two thick, dark purple layers. The helmet is dated to the early fourth century and thus dates the gems on it to the same period29 . An almost identical helmet embellished with the same types of glass gems was found in Budapest, and it is dated to the period between A.D. 367 and 37530 . The Greek inscription on the Berkasovo helmet indicates an oriental origin of the workshop. According to numismatic evidence and historical sources, the emperor was wearing a gold helmet decorated with precious stones31 . In addition, it is known that high ranking cavalry officers were given gilded helmets, which were produced – at least in A.D. 374 – in Constantinopolitan and Antiochian fabricae by specialized artisans known as the barbaricarii32 . The fact that these luxurious items were in a way a serial product, and that glass gems of the same types were used in their embellishment is indicative of the production’s standardisation and the considerable size of this branch of the glass industry as well. It may also indicate that two other large, undecorated nicolo gems, one from Louloudies in Pieria and the other from Zeugma, could have originally belonged to similar gem-studded helmets33 .

Fig. 9a. Berkasovo Helmet, fourth century (© Region Museum of Vojvodina)

Fig. 9b. Detail of the helmet with all types of glass gems (photo: A. Antonaras)

Plano-convex glass counters appear in the fourth century B.C. and survive up to the Roman period, mainly dated in the first century A.D.34 . In Classical Greek and Hellenistic times, they were used as game counters, as insets in architectural decoration, in intarsios on furniture, and possibly on clothing35 . This was a tradition alive in the early Byzantine and even in the Middle Ages, particularly for green, emerald-like glass gems36 . Oblong, plano-convex, green gems are well represented among the glass gems embellishing the fourth-century Berkasovo and Budapest helmets. These gems are practically identical to the gems produced in sixth-century Thessaloniki37 . (fig. 10) They were made by firing and further tooling to get the desired shape. Round, square, oblong rectangular, and triangular examples have been unearthed so far, and each shape is present in several sizes. Some are particularly large: an oblong of 7 cm, a square of approximately 3 cm, and a triangular gem 4.3 cm long. The round gems are larger than 2.5 cm, and they are more than twice as large as typical gems used for rings. The gems under discussion have been unearthed in seven early Christian sites, five basilicas and a secular building in Macedonia and Thessaly, and in a harbour in Constantinople. In addition, similar finds have been unearthed in Corinth, Arles, and Petra38 . Evidently they were used to embellish movable objects, as they have no remains of plaster or mortar on them. Furthermore, the sides of the gems are vertical, and there are no signs of scratches on their upper surfaces, which would indicate a “prong” setting. Thus, we can assume that a bezel type of setting was used for these oversized gems, similar to what we see in the helmets from Berkasovo and Budapest and on mosaics and textiles as well.

Fig. 10. Typological chart of Early Byzantine glass gems and their representation in mosaics. Digitally compiled by A. Antonaras.

Furthermore, the production of glass substitutes of emeralds and other, yellow, white, and blue semiprecious stones is described in alchemic recipes of Zosimos of Panopolis, and Olympiodorus, who were active in the fourth and fifth centuries39 .

In addition, similar gems are amply illustrated in a number of Late Antique - Early Byzantine artworks, mosaics, textiles and book illuminations. Namely, red and green oblong gems are depicted on textiles decorating thrones and the borders of entire scenes, some of them clearly rendering objects similar to these finds40 . Furthermore, the same types of gems are widely used in early Christian wall mosaics in Thessaloniki, Ravenna, Constantinople, Cyprus, and Sinai, decorating a wide variety of objects: shafts of columns, arches, ciboria, chain-like bands framing entire scenes, thrones and pedestals, Gospel bindings, ecclesiastical vessels, crosses, standards, shields, crowns and wreaths, vestments, and in depictions of Christ’s halo. In works of art, gems appear in six main shapes: oblong, square, lozenge, triangular, round, and ellipsoidal; and they appear in three different colours: blue, red, and green. The most common gems are oblong green ones and ellipsoidal and round blue ones41 . A small number of gold gem-studded objects (e.g., book covers and votive crowns) survive, but most of these are actually Lombard and Visigoth royal gifts. Only the silver-gilt cross of Justin II (r. 565–578) donated to the Vatican is a true Byzantine creation42 . In the Judaic tradition, semiprecious stones are chiefly mentioned in connection to the breastplate of the High Priest43 . In the book of Revelation44 semiprecious stones are mentioned in a description of the foundations of the Heavenly Jerusalem. It is this text and its description of this divine realm that was illustrated in artworks where we find the most realistic representations of our finds. In written sources, like the Liber Pontificalis, at least twenty-eight gem-studded objects are recorded among imperial and papal gifts from the fourth to the seventh centuries. These are mainly vessels: calices and bowls, but also censers, crosses, altars, and even the eyes of angel statues45 . In the De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae, a tenth-century book of ceremonial protocol at the court of the Byzantine emperor, at least twenty-three direct references to gemmed objects are recorded, most of which are connected to the emperor or were donated by the emperor to dignitaries as regalia, a symbol of their particular offices. So, gemmed gold crosses, swords, sceptres, cloths, belts, horse saddles and harnesses, batons and sticks, torques, whips, crowns, and seats are mentioned. Moreover, in a mid-fourteenth-century ceremonial manual of the Byzantine Court, known as Pseudo-Kodinos, the headgear of thirteen ranks of court officials was decorated with glass replicae of precious stone or enamel, which has been recently identified by Warren Woodfin as verre églomisé (i.e., reverse painting on glass)46 .

In the middle Byzantine period, from the ninth to the twelfth century, glass was used widely in the production of jewellery, mostly bracelets in different colours and shapes47 . (fig. 11) The bracelets were made of bent-glass rods of various dark-coloured hues, usually blue or green, but also brownish, purple-red, and brown. Occasionally, the rod was twisted, adding plasticity to the product, or even one or more fine rods in different, striking colours were adhered to the basic rod and then twisted together to form a colourful outcome. A considerable number of bracelets were decorated with paint in various hues of white and yellow, supplemented with details in blue, green, red, and orange, as well as in gold and silver48 . The decorative motifs consist of birds in roundels and square fields, and overall patterns of vegetal scrolls, circles, and crosses, as well as other vegetal and geometric designs. More rarely, Christian invocations constitute the ornament. The bracelets were made by drawing out a glass mass, forming a fine rod several meters long, which was consequently cut into lengths corresponding to the size of the bracelet49 . These short rods were decorated while they were straight. The rods were then reheated. They were removed from the furnace by being lifted from at the midpoint with a metal rod (i.e., a pounty), the tip of which was covered with molten glass. At that stage, the rods were bent and the two ends were squeezed together and sealed. Next, the finished bracelet was released from the pounty with a sharp strike, leaving a scar at that point of the periphery. The same scar is visible on glass rings of this period indicating that they were probably made in the same workshops as the bracelets using similar techniques. The painted decoration is quite often distorted at the ends and appears to continue even under the seam, so indicating that the decoration was applied before this stage, while the rod was still rectilinear.

Fig. 11. Glass bracelets, Thessaloniki, Rentina, Corinth, tenth and eleventh centuries (© Museum of Byzantine Culture and Corinth Excavations of the American School of Classical Antiquities, photo: M. Skiadaresis, Th. Kartsoglou, A. Antonaras)

Dark blue glass gems, which have been found at several sites in the Balkans, present another relatively common product of the middle Byzantine glass industry. The colour might indicate an apotropaic feature of the gem against the Evil Eye. Several are plain, plano-convex examples, but nevertheless a few intaglios have been found. In two cases, a mounted figure is depicted. In other examples, the zodiac signs Pisces and Capricorn are presented and were used as signet rings50 . (fig. 12) Moreover, twenty-five glass gems were used to decorate the frame of an icon found in the eleventh-century Diataxis of Michael Attaliates51 . In the thirteenth century, a new form of pendant in the shape of a droplet was made in dark blue, greenish, opaque red, and decolourized glass, apparently a rendering of some stone and possibly coral prototypes52 . (fig. 13)

Fig. 12. Bronze rings with glass gems, Aerino, Greece, tenth–twelfth centuries (© Ephorate of Antiquities of Larisa, photo: M. Skiadaresis)

Fig. 13. Glass pendants, Corinth, thirteenth centuries (© Corinth Excavations of the American School of Classical Antiquities, photo: A. Antonaras)

In the thirteenth century, large Venetian glass gems were distributed all over the Mediterranean and beyond. These bore religious scenes related to various pilgrimage centres including Santiago di Compostela and Bethlehem. Most had Greek inscriptions and iconographical themes rendered in a clearly Byzantine manner53 . The fact that Byzantine prototypes, most probably of semiprecious stones (e.g., dark blue probably emulating lapis and red emulating hematite), were copied or emulated in glass in Venice is an indirect testimony to the lack of such a trade in Byzantium itself. Yet at the same time, it is quite indicative of the need for such commodities in the eastern Mediterranean market, which was covered by the well-organised trade of Venice and its glasshouses.

Finally, the latest information regarding the imitation of luxury in glass in Byzantium comes from a short reference of the late Byzantine historian Nicephoros Grigoras. Describing the coronation of John Kantakouzinos, he offers an indirect testimony of the use of glass gems as ersatz, or substitutes of precious stones, in a fashion that can be easily connected to the early Byzantine glass emeralds that have already been discussed herein. In 1343, Anna Palaiologina, mother of the emperor John V and regent as empress-dowager from 1341 to 1347, borrowed money from the Venetians by pawning the crown’s jewels. She borrowed to cover the expenses of a civil war against John Kantakouzinos. Sadly for her, in 1347 John Kantakouzinos won the six-year-long civil war and got crowned co-emperor of the minor John V in Constantinople. But there were no longer any imperial jewels in Constantinople. So, for the coronation, he had to use gilded leather insignia ornamented with glass gems of all colours54 . Since the original stones were mostly balas rubies and a few sapphires, at least two colours of glass gems were used, red and green, in addition to the pearls that were also mentioned as part of the crown’s jewels. The jewels were never recovered by the Byzantines, and it only seems logical to assume that the use of the glass-gemmed crown was continued throughout the Palaiologan era until the fall of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire55 .

Bibliography

Sources

Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus, Ammiani Marcellini Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt.

Codex Theodosianus
Codices Gregorianus, Hermogenianus, Theodosianus, ed. Gustav Friedrich Haenel, Bonn 1842

Codex Theodosianus, eds. Theodor Mommsen, Paul Meyer, Berlin 1905.

Liber pontificalis 1886
Louis Duchesne, Le Liber pontificalis, texte, introduction et commentaire par l'abbé L. Duchesne, Paris: E. Thorin, 1886; Fr. trans. Michel Aubrun, Le livre des papes, Turnhout: Brepols 2007; Engl. trans. Raymond Davis, The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis). The Ancient Biographies of the First Ninety Roman Bishops to AD 715, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2010.

Nikephoros Gregoras
Nikephoros Gregoras, Byzantine Historia, XI, ed. Ludwig Schopen, t. 1 [Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, 19], Bonn 1829; Nikephoros Gregoras, Rhomäische Geschichte / Historia Rhomaike, Germ. trans. Jan Louis van Dieten, Stuttgart: Hiersemann, vol. 2, 1979.

Pseudo-Kodinos
Pseudo-Kodinos, De officiis, Ruth Macrides, Joseph A. Munitz, Dimiter Angelov, eds., Pseudo-Kodinos and the Constantinopolitan Court: Offices and Ceremonies, Farnham – Burlington, Vt: Ashgate, 2013.

Exhibition catalogues

New York 1977
Kurt Weitzmann, ed., Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century, exh. cat., New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 1977-February 1978, New York 1977.

Thessaloniki 2001
Diana Zafeiropoulou, Η συλλογή Γεωργίου Τσολοζίδη. Το Βυζάντιο μέσα από τα μάτια ενός συλλέκτη (Collection of Giorgos Tsolozidis. Byzantium through the eyes of a collector), exh. cat., Thessaloniki, Museum of Byzantine Culture, 2001, Athens: TAPA, 2001.

Thessaloniki 2002
Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzi, ed., Everyday Life in Byzantium, exh. cat., Thessaloniki, White Tower, October 2001-January 2002, Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 2002.

Thessaloniki 2010
Despoina Ignatiadou, ed., Γυάλινος κόσμος. Glass cosmos, exh. cat., Thessaloniki, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, September 2009-September 2010, Thessaloniki 2010.

Monographs and articles

Allason-Jones 1996
Lindsay Allason-Jones, The Roman Jet in the Yorkshire Museum, York: The Yorkshire Museum, 1996.

Antonaras 2004
Anastassios Antonaras, “Textiles and Clothing in the Collections of the Museum of Byzantine Culture”, in Calendar-album of the Museum of Byzantine Culture 2004, Thessaloniki 2004.

Antonaras 2005
Anastassios Antonaras, “The use of glass in Byzantine jewelry: the evidence from northern Greece (fourth–sixteenth centuries)”, in Annales du 16e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, Nottingham: Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, 2005, pp. 331‑334.

Antonaras 2006
Anastassios Antonaras, “Γυάλινα μεσοβυζαντινά βραχιόλια: συμβολή σε θέματα διάθεσης, παραγωγής, τυπολογίας και χρήσης”, Deltion tēs Cristianikēs Archaiologikēs Etaireias, 27, 2006, pp. 423‑434.

Antonaras 2009
Anastassios Antonaras, “Gold-Glass Tile Decoration in the St. Demetrios Basilica, Thessaloniki”, in Annales du 18e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, 18, Thessaloniki: Ziti, 2009, pp. 301‑306.

Antonaras 2012
Anastassios Antonaras, Fire and Sand – Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, N.J., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.

Antonaras 2013
Anastassios Antonaras, “The Production and Uses of Glass in Byzantine Thessaloniki”, in Chris Entwistle, Liz James, eds., New Light on Old Glass: Recent Research on Byzantine Mosaics and Glass, [British Museum Research Publication 179], London, 2013, pp. 189‑198.

Antonaras 2018
Anastassios Antonaras, “A Special Group of Early Christian Glass ‘Gems’ from Greece”, in Daniela Rosenow, Matt Phelps, Andrew Meek, Ian Freestone, eds., Things that travelled – Mediterranean glass in the first millennium AD, London: UCL Press, 2018, pp. 1‑21.

Antonaras 2019
Anastassios Antonaras, Works from the collection of the Museum of Byzantine Culture. The Art of Glass, Thessaloniki: Museum of Byzantine Culture, 2019.

Arveiller-Dulong / Nenna 2005
Véronique Arveiller-Dulong, Marie-Dominique Nenna, Les Verres antiques du Musée du Louvre. 2, Vaisselle et contenants du Ier siècle au début du VIIe siècle après J.-C, Paris: Somogy, 2005.

Arveiller-Dulong / Nenna 2011
Véronique Arveiller-Dulong, Marie-Dominique Nenna, Les Verres antiques du Musée du Louvre. 3, Parures, instruments et éléments d’incrustation, Paris: Somogy, 2011.

Auth 2007
Susan E. Auth, “An Intarsia Glass Panel of Thomas and the Cross: Egyptian and Roman Interaction in the Late Antique”, in Colum Hourihane, ed., Interactions: Artistic Interchange between the Eastern and Western Worlds in the Medieval Period, Princeton: Index of Christian Art, Department of Art, Princeton University – Penn State University Press, 2007, pp. 133‑146.

Bakirtzis / Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou / Mavropoulou-Tsioumi 2012
Charalambos Bakirtzis, Eutuchia Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, Chrysanthi Mavropoulou-Tsioumi, Mosaics of Thessaloniki 4th–14th century, Athens: Kapon, 2012.

Becatti 1961
Giovanni Becatti, Mosaici e pavimenti marmorei, [Scavi di Ostia 4], Rome: Istituto poligrafico dello stato, 1961.

Brill / Whitehouse 1988
Robert H. Brill, David Whitehouse, “The Thomas Panel”, Journal of Glass Studies, 30, 1988, pp. 34‑50.

Bustacchini 1989
Gianfranco Bustacchini, Ravenna capital of mosaic, Bologna: Italcards, 1989.

Capriata 2005
Riccardo Capriata, “Nuovi dati sulla collezione Gorga nel Museo Nazionale Romano. I sectilia dalla villa di Lucio Vero sulla via Clodia ed altri vetri architettonici”, in Fabrizio Vistoli, ed., Emergenze storico-archeologiche di un settore del suburbia di Roma. La tenuta dell’Acqua Traversa. Atti della giornata di studio, Roma, 7 giugno 2003, Rome: O.D.P., 2005, pp. 229‑262.

Cosyns 2011
Peter Cosyns, The Production, Distribution and Consumption of Black Glass in the Roman Empire during the 1st – 5th century AD. An Archaeological, Archaeometric and Historical Approach, Thèse de doctorat non publiée, Vrije Univeriteit, Brussel 2011.

Da Cruz 2009
Mario Da Cruz, “Black Glass Jewellery from Bracara Augusta”, Annales du 17e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre , Antwerp: Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, 2009, pp. 7‑13.

Dautova-Ruševljan / Vujović 2011
Velika Dautova-Ruševljan, Miroslav Vujović, Kasnoantički šlem iz Jarka (Late Roman Helmet from Jarak), Novi Sad: Matica Srpska i Vojvodjanski Muzej, 2011.

David 2013
Massimiliano David, Eternal Ravenna. From the Etruscans to the Venetians, Turnhout: Brepols, 2013.

Davidson 1940
Gladys R. Davidson, “A Mediaeval Glass-Factory at Corinth”, American Journal of Archaeology, 44/3, 1940, pp. 297‑324.

Davidson 1952
Gladys R. Davidson, The Minor Objects, [Corinth XII], Princeton: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1952.

Fiema 2007
Zbigniew T. Fiema, “Storing in the Church: Artefacts in Room I of the Petra Church”, in Luke Lavan, Ellen Swift, Toon Putzeys, eds., Objects in Context, Objects in Use, Material Spatiality in Late Antiquity, Leiden: Brill, 2007, pp. 607‑624.

Fleigel 2012
Steven N. Fleigel, A Higher Contemplation, Sacred Meaning in the Christian Art of the Middle Ages, Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2012.

Foskolou 2004
Vassiliki Foskolou, “Glass medallions with religious themes in the Byzantine Collection at the Benaki Museum: a contribution to the study of pilgrim tokens in Late Middle Ages”, Μουσείο Μπενάκη, 4, 2004, pp. 51‑73.

Foy 2010
Danièle Foy, Les Verres antiques d’Arles. La collection du Musée départemental Arles antique, Paris: Errance – Arles: Musée départemental Arles antique, 2010.

Gautier 1981
Paul Gautier, ed., La Diataxis de Michel Attaliate, [Revue des études byzantine, 39], Paris: Institut français d'études byzantines, 1981.

Gill 2002
Margaret A. V. Gill, Amorium reports. Finds I, The glass (1987–1997), Oxford: Archaeopress, 2002.

Gorin-Rosen 2015
Yael Gorin-Rosen, “Byzantine Gold Glass from Excavations in the Holy Land”, Journal of Glass Studies, 57, 2015, pp. 97-119.

Grossmann 2013
Richard A. Grossmann, “Glass”, in William Aylward, Excavations at Zeugma: conducted by Oxford Archaeology, Los Altos, Calif.: The Packard Humanities Institute, 2013, pp. 218‑258.

Guiraud 1992
Hélène Guiraud, “Ors et pierres”, in Daniel Schaad, ed., Le trésor d'Eauze, Toulouse: Association pour la promotion du Patrimoine Archéologique et Historique en Midi-Pyrénées, 1992, pp. 17‑69.

Guiraud 2011
Hélène Guiraud, “Intaglios and Cameos from Gaul in the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD”, in Christopher Entwistle, Noel Adams, eds., 'Gems of heaven': recent research on engraved gemstones in late antiquity, c. AD 200‑600, London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 2011, pp. 127‑129.

Harrison 1986
R. Martin Harrison, Excavations at Saraçhane in Istanbul, Volume 1, Princeton: Princeton Universiry Press, 1986.

Hetherington 2000
Paul Hetherington, “Byzantine and Russian Enamels in the Treasury of Hagia Sophia in the Late 14th Century”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 93/1, 2000, pp. 133‑137.

Hetherington 2003
Paul Hetherington, “The Jewels from the Crown: Symbol and Substance in the Later Byzantine Imperial Regalia”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 96/1, 2003, pp. 157‑168.

Ibrahim / Scranton / Brill 1976
Leila Ibrahim, Robert L. Scranton, Robert H. Brill, The Panels of Opus Sectile in Glass, [Kenchreai, eastern port of Corinth, II], Leiden: Brill, 1976.

Ignatiadou 1999
Despoina Ignatiadou, “Ελληνιστικό επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι με γυάλινους πεσσούς”, in Ancient Macedonia, sixth International Symposium 1996, vol. 1, Thessaloniki: Hidryma Meletōn Chersonēsou tou Haimou, 1999, pp. 507-522.

Ignatiadou 2013
Despoina Ignatiadou, Διαφανής ὕαλος για την αριστοκρατία της αρχαίας Μακεδονίας (Colourless glass for the élite in ancient Macedonia), Thessaloniki: Archaiologiko Institouto Makedonikōn kai Thrakikōn Spoudōn, 2013.

Israeli 2005
Yael Israeli, “What did Jerusalem’s First-Century BCE Glass Workshop Produce?”, Annales du 16e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, Nottingham: Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, 2005, pp. 54‑57.

Israeli / Katsnelson 2006
Yael Israeli, Natalia Katsnelson, “Refuse of a Glass Workshop of the Second Temple Period from Area J”, in Hillel Geva, Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem Volume III : Area E and Other Studies, Jerusalem : Israel Exploration Society, 2006, pp. 411‑460.

Ivison 2010
Eric A. Ivison, “Kirche und religiöses Leben im byzantinischen Amorium”, in Falko Daim, Joerg Drauschke, eds., Byzanz – das Römerreich im Mittelalter, Teil 2,1 Schauplätze, [Monographien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 84/2, 1], Mainz: Römisch‑Germanisches Zentralmuseum, 2010, pp. 309‑343.

Killerich 2014
Bente Killerich, “The opus sectile from Porta Marina at Ostia and the Aesthetics of Interior Decoration”, in Ine Jacobs, ed., Production and Prosperity in the Theodosian Period, Leuven – Walpole, Mass.: Peeters, 2014, pp. 169‑187.

Kock / Sode 1994
Jan Kock, Torben Sode, Glass beads and Glassmakers in Northern India, Vanlose: THOT, 1994.

Krueger 2011
Ingeborg Krueger, “Zu einigen grossen Smaragden aus Glas”, Journal of Glass Studies, 53, 2011, pp. 103‑127.

Lierke 2001
Rosemarie Lierke, “With ‘trial and error’ through ancient glass technology”, in George Kordas, ed., Hyalos-Vitrum-Glass: History, Technology and Conservation of Glass and Vitreous Materials in the Hellenistic World. 1st International Conference, 1–4 April 2001, Rhodes, Athens: Glasnet Publications, 2001, pp. 181‑186.

Lightfoot 2005
Christopher S. Lightfoot, “Glass Finds at Amorium”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 59, 2005, pp. 173‑181.

Manojlović‑Marijanski 1964
Mirijana Manojlović‑Marijanski, Kasnorimski šlemovi iz Berkašova, Novi Sad: Vojvođanski muzej, 1964.

Marinković 2009
Snežana Marinković, Sarmatska kultura na tlu Banata iz zbirke Narodnog Muzeja Zrenjanin, Zrenjanin: Narodni muzej Zrenjanin, 2009.

Marki 1996
Euterpi Marki, “Conclusions from the Excavations Conducted by the 9th Ephorate in North Pieria”, Archaiologiko Ergo sten Makedonia kai Thrake, 10A, 1996, pp. 239‑258 (in Greek with English summary).

Marki 2002
Euterpi Marki, “Locating Productive and Workshop Activities in the Episcopal Complex at Louloudies, Pieria”, in 22nd Symposium of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Archaeology and Art, Program and abstracts, Athens, May 17, 18 and 19, Athens: Christianiki Archaiologiki Etaireia, 2002, pp. 65‑66 (in Greek).

Mundell Mango 2001
Marlia Mundell Mango, “Polychrome tiles found at Istanbul: typology, chronology, and function”, in Sharon E. J. Gerstel, Julie A. Lauffenburger, eds., Lost Art Rediscovered: The Architectural Ceramics of Byzantium, University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001, pp. 13‑43.

Nardelli 2011
Bruna Nardelli, “Late Roman Gems from Tilurium in Croatia”, in Christopher Entwistle, Noel Adams, eds., 'Gems of heaven': recent research on engraved gemstones in late antiquity, c. AD 200‑600, London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 2011, pp. 130‑134.

Nenna 1999
Marie-Dominique Nenna, Les verres, [Exploration archéologique de Délos, XXXVII], Paris: De Boccard, 1999.

Nenna 2007
Marie-Dominique Nenna, Glassmakers of Papanaidupet, DVD, Collection De l’Afrique à l’Inde, Alexandria: Centre d'Etudes Alexandrines, 2007.

Nenna 2015
Marie-Dominique Nenna, “Le mobilier en bois incrusté de verre des temples Égyptiens: Nouvelles données (VIIe av. J.-C. – 1er siècle apr. J.-C.)”, Annales du 19 Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, Piran: Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, 2015, pp. 30‑38.

ODB
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, New York – Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Pedone 2011
Silvia Pedone, “The Marble Omphalos of Saint Sophia in Constantinople. An Analysis of an Opus Sectile Pavement of Middle Byzantine Age”, in Mustafa Șhain, ed., 11th International Colloquium on Ancient Mosaics (October 16th–20th, 2009, Bursa Turkey), Mosaics of Turkey and Parallel Developments in the Rest of the Ancient and Medieval World: Questions of Iconography, Style and Technique from the Beginnings of Mosaic until the Late Byzantine Era, Istanbul: Ege Yayınları, 2012, pp. 749‑768.

Pitarakis 2007
Brigitte Pitarakis, “L’orfèvre et l’architecte: autour d’un groupe d’édifices constantinopolitains du VIe siècle”, in Arietta Papaconstantinou, Anthony Cutler, eds., The Material and the Ideal. Essays in Medieval Art and Archaeology in Honour of Jean-Michel Spieser, Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2007, pp. 63‑74.

Rassart-Debergh / Weidmann 2013
Marguerite Rassart-Debergh, Denis Weidmann, “Le panneau en opus sectile de verre de l'église 61”, in Denis Weidmann et al., Kellia: Kôm Qouçoûr ʻÎsâ 1: fouilles de 1965 à 1978, Leuven: Peeters, 2013, pp. 405‑420.

Ristovska 2009
Natalija Ristovska, “Distribution patterns of middle Byzantine painted glass”, in Marlia Mundell Mango, ed., Byzantine Trade, 4th–12th Centuries, Oxford: Routledge, 2009, pp. 199‑220.

Saguì 1998
Lucia Saguì, Storie al caleidoscopio. I vetri della collezione Gorga: un patrimonio ritrovato, Florence: Stabilimento Grafico Commerciale, 1998.

Schulze-Dörrlamm 1990
Mechthild Schulze-Dörrlamm, “Bemerkungen zu Alter und Funktion der Alsengemmen”, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 20, 1990, pp. 215‑226.

Spaer 2001
Maud Spaer, Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: Beads and Other Small Objects, Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 2001.

Spier 1992
Jeffrey Spier, Ancient gems and finger rings: catalogue of the collections, Malibu, CA: Getty Museum, 1992.

Spier 2007
Jeffrey Spier, Late Antique and Early Christian gems, Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2007.

Spier 2011
Jeffrey Spier, “Late Antique and Early Christian Gems. Some Unpublished Examples”, in Christopher Entwistle, Noel Adams, eds., 'Gems of heaven': recent research on engraved gemstones in late antiquity, c. AD 200‑600, London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 2011, pp. 193‑207.

Stern 2001
Eva Marianne Stern, Roman, Byzantine, and early medieval glass, 10 BCE‑700 CE: Ernesto Wolf collection, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2001.

Stern 2002
Eva Marianne Stern, “Glass for the Gods”, in George Kordas ed., Hyalos, Vitrum, Glass: History, Technology and Conservation of Glass and Vitreous Materials in the Hellenic World, Athens: Glassnet publications, 2002, pp. 353‑365.

Stern / Schlick-Nolte 1994
Eva Marianne Stern, Birgit Schlick-Nolte, Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.‑A.D. 50, Ernesto Wolf Collection, Ostfildern: Hatje, 1994.

Tomas 1973
Edit Baja Thomas, “Der Helm von Budapest”, in Hans Klumbach, ed., Spätrömische Gardehelme, Munich: C.H. Beck, 1973, pp. 39‑50.

Traikovski 1990-1991
Kirilo Traikovski, “Grobot 105 od Morodvis”, Macedoniae Acta Archaeologica, 12, 1990-1991, pp. 235‑245.

Verpeaux 1966
Jean Verpeaux, Pseudo-Kodinos, Traité des offices, Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1966.

Vollenweider 1967, 1979, 1983
Marie-Louise Vollenweider, Catalogue raisonné des sceaux, cylindres, intailles et camées, t. I‑III, Geneva: Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève 1967, 1979, 1983.

Weinberg 1969
Gladys D. Weinberg, “Glass manufacture in Hellenistic Rhodes”, Archaeologikon Deltion, 24, Meletai, 1969, pp. 144‑151.

Wentzel 1959
Hans Wentzel, “Das Medaillon mit dem Hl. Theodor und die venezianischen Glaspasten im byzantinischen Stil”, in Werner Gramberg et al., eds., Festschrift für Erich Meyer zum sechzigsten Geburtstag, 29. Oktober 1957. Studien zu Werken in den Sammlungen des Museums für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg: Hauswedell, 1959, pp. 50‑67.

Wentzel 1963
Hans Wentzel, “Zu dem Enkolpion mit dem Hl. Demetrios in Hamburg”, Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen, 8, 1963, pp. 11‑24.

Whitehouse 1991
David Whitehouse, “Glassmaking at Corinth: A reassessment”, in Danièle Foy, Geneviève Sennequier, eds., Ateliers de Verriers de l’antiquité a la période préindustrielle. Actes des 4èmes Rencontres de l’Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre, Rouen 24–25 novembre 1989, Rouen: Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre, 1991, pp. 73‑82.

Whitehouse 1997
David Whitehouse, Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. 1, Corning: Corning Museum of Glass, 1997.

Whitehouse / Pilosi / Wypisky 2000
David Whitehouse, Lisa Pilosi, Mark T. Wypyski, “Byzantine Silver Stain”, Journal of Glass Studies, 42, 2000, pp. 85‑96.

Zwierlein-Diehl 1992
Erika Zwierlein-Diehl, Magische Amulette und andere Gemmen des Instituts für Altertumskunde der Universität zu Köln, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1992.

Notes

  • 1.
    Eva Marianne Stern, Birgit Schlick-Nolte, Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.–A.D. 50, Ernesto Wolf Collection, Ostfildern: Hatje, 1994, pp. 49, 142–149, 376–385, 404–407; Véronique Arveiller-Dulong, Marie-Dominique Nenna, Les Verres antiques du Musée du Louvre. 3, Parures, instruments et éléments d’incrustation, Paris: Somogy, 2011, pp. 350–395; Anastassios Antonaras, Fire and Sand – Ancient Glass in the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012, pp. 286–289; Marie-Dominique Nenna, “Le mobilier en bois incrusté de verre des temples Égyptiens: Nouvelles données (VIIe av. J.-C. – 1er siècle apr. J.-C.)”, Annales du 19e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, Piran, Slovenia: Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, 2015, pp. 30–38.
  • 2.
    Antonaras 2012, op. cit., pp. 291–297.
  • 3.
    Riccardo Capriata, “Nuovi dati sulla collezione Gorga nel Museo Nazionale Romano. I sectilia dalla villa di Lucio Vero sulla via Clodia ed altri vetri architettonici”, in Fabrizio Vistoli, ed., Emergenze storico-archeologiche di un settore del suburbia di Roma: La tenuta dell’Acqua Traversa: atti della giornata di studio, Roma, 7 giugno 2003, Rome: O.D.P., 2005, pp. 229–262.
  • 4.
    Stern, Schlick-Nolte, op. cit., pp. 408–409; Lucia Saguì, Storie al caleidoscopio. I vetri della collezione Gorga: un patrimonio ritrovato, Florence: Stabilimento Grafico Commerciale, 1998, pp. 11–12, fig. 5–6; David Whitehouse, Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, vol. 1, Corning: Corning Museum of Glass, 1997, no. 33; Leila Ibrahim, Robert L. Scranton, Robert H. Brill, The Panels of ‘Opus Sectile’ in Glass, [Kenchreai, eastern port of Corinth,II], Leiden: Brill, 1976; Marguerite Rassart-Debergh, Denis Weidmann, “Le panneau en opus sectile de verre de l'église 61”, in Denis Weidmann et al., Kellia: Kôm Qouçoûr ʻÎsâ 1: fouilles de 1965 à 1978, Leuven: Peeters, 2013, pp. 405–420; Robert H. Brill, David Whitehouse, “The Thomas Panel”, Journal of Glass Studies, 30, 1988, pp. 34–50; Susan E. Auth, “An Intarsia Glass Panel of Thomas and the Cross: Egyptian and Roman Interaction in the Late Antique”, in Colum Hourihane, ed., Interactions: Artistic Interchange between the Eastern and Western Worlds in the Medieval Period, Princeton: Index of Christian Art, Department of Art, Princeton University – Penn State University Press, 2007, pp. 133–146; Giovanni Becatti, Mosaici e pavimenti marmorei, [Scavi di Ostia 4], Rome: Istituto poligrafico dello stato, 1961; Bente Killerich, “The opus sectile from Porta Marina at Ostia and the Aesthetics of Interior Decoration”, in Ine Jacobs, ed., Production and Prosperity in the Theodosian Period, Leuven – Walpole, Mass.: Peeters, 2014, pp. 169–187.
  • 5.
    Anastassios Antonaras, “Gold-Glass Tile Decoration in the St. Demetrios Basilica, Thessaloniki”, in Annales du 18e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, 18, Thessaloniki: Ziti, 2009, pp. 301–306.
  • 6.
    On the glass gems and insets in general see Anastassios Antonaras, “A Special Group of Early Christian Glass ‘Gems’ from Greece”, in Daniela Rosenow, Matt Phelps, Andrew Meek, Ian Freestone, eds., Things that travelled – Mediterranean glass in the first millennium AD, London: UCL Press, 2018, 1–21. For the monuments see Anastassios Antonaras, “The Production and Uses of Glass in Byzantine Thessaloniki”, in Chris Entwistle, Liz James, eds., New Light on Old Glass: Recent Research on Byzantine Mosaics and Glass, [British Museum Research Publication 179], London, 2013, pp. 189-198, esp. p. 193, pl. 13; R. Martin Harrison, Excavations at Saraçhane in Istanbul, Volume 1, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986, pp. 168–181; Brigitte Pitarakis, “L’orfèvre et l’architecte: autour d’un groupe d’édifices constantinopolitains du VIe siècle”, in Arietta Papaconstantinou, Anthony Cutler, eds., The Material and the Ideal. Essays in Medieval Art and Archaeology in Honour of Jean-Michel Spieser, Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2007, pp. 63-74, esp. pp. 70–74, figs 9–10.
  • 7.
    Marlia Mundell Mango, “Polychrome tiles found at Istanbul: typology, chronology, and function”, in Sharon E. J. Gerstel, Julie A. Lauffenburger, eds., Lost Art Rediscovered: The Architectural Ceramics of Byzantium, University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001, pp. 13-43, esp. pp. 24–25.
  • 8.
    I thank Dr Silvia Pedone for turning my attention to this piece. Silvia Pedone, “The Marble Omphalos of Saint Sophia in Constantinople. An Analysis of an Opus Sectile Pavement of Middle Byzantine Age”, in Mustafa Șhain, ed., 11th International Colloquium on Ancient Mosaics (October 16th–20th, 2009, Bursa Turkey), Mosaics of Turkey and Parallel Developments in the Rest of the Ancient and Medieval World: Questions of Iconography, Style and Technique from the Beginnings of Mosaic until the Late Byzantine Era, Istanbul: Ege Yayınları, 2012, pp. 749-768, esp. pp. 759–760, fig. 21.
  • 9.
    Antonaras 2009, op. cit.; Antonaras 2013, op. cit., pp. 192–193, pl. 12; Yael Gorin-Rosen, “Byzantine Gold Glass from Excavations in the Holy Land”, Journal of Glass Studies, 57, 2015, pp. 97–119.
  • 10.
    For Late Roman examples, see Hélène Guiraud, “Ors et pierres”, in Daniel Schaad, ed., Le trésor d'Eauze, Toulouse: Association pour la promotion du Patrimoine Archéologique et Historique en Midi-Pyrénées, 1992, pp. 17-69, esp p. 58 with further bibliography. For the use of glass in jewelry in Byzantium, see Anastassios Antonaras, “The use of glass in Byzantine jewelry: the evidence from northern Greece (fourth–sixteenth centuries)”, in Annales du 16e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, Nottingham: Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, 2005, pp. 331–334.
  • 11.
    Lindsay Allason-Jones, The Roman Jet in the Yorkshire Museum, York: The Yorkshire Museum, 1996; Peter Cosyns, The Production, Distribution and Consumption of Black Glass in the Roman Empire during the 1st–5th century AD. An Archaeological, Archaeometric and Historical Approach, PhD thesis submitted to Vrije Univeriteit, Brussel 2011, pp. 26–30, 80‑124, 147–162, 279–295.
  • 12.
    Arveiller-Dulong, Nenna 2011, op. cit., pp. 246–248.
  • 13.
    Kirilo Traikovski, “Grobot 105 od Morodvis”, Macedoniae Acta Archaeologica, 12, 1990‑1991, pp. 235‑245, esp. p. 245, pl. V/17 ; Margaret A. V. Gill, Amorium reports. Finds I, The glass (1987–1997), Oxford: Archaeopress, 2002, p. 99, nos. 559–569, p. 221 nos 769-84; Christopher S. Lightfoot, “Glass Finds at Amorium”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 59, 2005, pp. 173-181, esp. p. 181; Eric A. Ivison, “Kirche und religiöses Leben im byzantinischen Amorium,” in Falko Daim, Joerg Drauschke, eds., Byzanz – das Römerreich im Mittelalter, Teil 2,1 Schauplätze, [Monographien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 84/2, 1], Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, 2010, pp. 309‒343, fig. 31 on p. 337.
  • 14.
    I thank Dr Christopher Lightfoot for providing me with high-resolution photos of the glass rings excavated in Amorion.
  • 15.
    Stern, Schlick-Nolte 1994, op. cit. pp. 66–67 fig. 107–112; Rosemarie Lierke, “With ‘trial and error’ through ancient glass technology”, in George Kordas, ed., Hyalos-Vitrum-Glass: History, Technology and Conservation of Glass and Vitreous Materials in the Hellenistic World. 1st International Conference, 1–4 April 2001, Rhodes, Athens: Glasnet Publications, 2001, pp. 181-186, esp. p. 181.
  • 16.
    Marie-Dominique Nenna, Les verres, [Exploration archéologique de Délos, XXXVII], Paris: De Boccard, 1999, p. 151 nos E255–E261; Maud Spaer, Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: Beads and Other Small Objects, Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 2001, p. 235, no 547; Arveiller, Dulong Nenna 2011, op. cit., p. 337, p. 341, nos 559–562; Despoina Ignatiadou, ed., Gyalinos kosmos. Glass cosmos, exh. cat., Thessaloniki, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, September 2009-September 2010,Thessaloniki 2010, p. 399, no 485 (M. Nikolaidou-Patera and K. Amoiridou).
  • 17.
    For Hellenistic production centers, see Gladys D. Weinberg, “Glass manufacture in Hellenistic Rhodes”, Archaeologikon Deltion, 24, Meletai, 1969, pp. 144-151, esp. p. 146, pl. 80b; Nenna 1999, op. cit., pp. 159–165; Yael Israeli, “What did Jerusalem’s First-Century BCE Glass Workshop Produce?”, Annales du 16e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, Nottingham: Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, 2005, pp. 54‑57, esp. p. 56, fig. 5; Yael Israeli, Natalia Katsnelson, “Refuse of a Glass Workshop of the Second Temple Period from Area J”, in Hillel Geva, Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem Volume III : Area E and Other Studies, Jerusalem : Israel Exploration Society, 2006, pp. 411‑460, esp. p. 419, pl. 21.11.
  • 18.
    Jeffrey Spier, Ancient Gems and Finger Rings: Catalogue of the Collections, Malibu, CA: Getty Museum, 1992, pp. 145–153, and particularly on banded glass gems pp. 148–150; Eva Marianne Stern, Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE–700 CE : Ernesto Wolf collection, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2001, pp. 358–360, 374, cat. no 207.
  • 19.
    Jeffrey Spier, Late Antique and Early Christian Gems, Wiesbaden: Reichert 2007; Jeffrey Spier, “Late Antique and Early Christian Gems. Some Unpublished Examples”, in Christopher Entwistle, Noel Adams, eds., Gems of Heaven': Recent Research on Engraved Gemstones in Late Antiquity, c. AD 200–600, London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 2011, pp. 193‑207, esp. pp. 198–199; Bruna Nardelli, “Late Roman Gems from Tilurium in Croatia”, Entwistle / Adams, op. cit., pp. 130‑134, esp. pp. 132–133.
  • 20.
    Hélène Guiraud, “Intaglios and Cameos from Gaul in the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD”, Entwistle / Adams, op. cit., pp. 127-129, esp. p. 127.
  • 21.
    For glass counters/gems dated from the fifth century B.C. throughout the Byzantine era, but mainly from the Roman period see Gladys R. Davidson, The Minor Objects, [Corinth, XII], Princeton : The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1952, p. 226, nos 1783–1801, pl. 101. For other examples from several Greek sites, see Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzi, ed., Everyday Life in Byzantium, exh. cat.,Thessaloniki, White Tower, October 2001–January 2002, Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 2002, pp. 444–446, 558, nos 585–589, 592, 594, 768. On glass gems set in metal belt buckles see Spier 2011, op. cit., pp. 198–199 with further bibliography.
  • 22.
    French sites: Guiraud 1992, op. cit., p. 49, col. pl. 3; Guiraud 2011, op. cit., p. 127; U.K., several sites: photos accessed on January 4th. 2016 : http://www.wear-the-past.com/WSXV-PR239a.jpg; https://finds.org.uk/images/dwilliams/medium/09.392.JPG; https://finds.org.uk/images/thumbnails/340112.jpg; https://finds.org.uk/images/acooper/medium/FingerRing.jpg; https://finds.org.uk/images/beckyd/medium/2013T608c.JPG; Zeugma, Turkey : Richard A. Grossmann, “Glass”, in William Aylward, Excavations at Zeugma: conducted by Oxford Archaeology, Los Altos, Calif.: The Packard Humanities Institute, 2013, pp. 218-258, esp. p. 255, fig. 116; Leje-Aradac by Zrenjanin, Serbia: Snežana Marinković, Sarmatska kultura na tlu Banata iz zbirke Narodnog Muzeja Zrenjanin, Zrenjanin: Narodni muzej Zrenjanin, 2009, n.p. [p. 16], glass gem misinterpreted as mother of pearl.
  • 23.
    Erika Zwierlein-Diehl, Magische Amulette und andere Gemmen des Instituts für Altertumskunde der Universität zu Köln, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1992, p. 109, no. 36.
  • 24.
    Mechthild Schulze-Dörrlamm, “Bemerkungen zu Alter und Funktion der Alsengemmen”, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 20, 1990, pp. 215–226.
  • 25.
    Mirijana Manojlović-Marijanski, Kasnorimski šlemovi iz Berkašova, Novi Sad: Vojvođanski muzej, 1964; Edit Baja Thomas, “Der Helm von Budapest”, in Hans Klumbach, ed., Spätrömische Gardehelme, Munchen: C.H. Beck, 1973, pp. 39–50.
  • 26.
    Mario Da Cruz, “Black Glass Jewellery from Bracara Augusta”, in Annales du 17e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, Antwerp: Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre, 2009, pp. 7–13.
  • 27.
    In addition to the nicoli from Macedonia kept in the Museum of Byzantine Culture (Fig. 8a-b), the remarks rely on observations of glass nicoli from the Museum of Art and History of Geneva (MAH). I wholeheartedly thank Dr Matteo Campagnolo, curator at the MAH, for his guidance and permission to access the collection. All gems have been previously published by Marie-Louise Vollenweider, Catalogue raisonné des sceaux, cylindres, intailles et camées, 3 vol., Genève, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève 1967, 1979, 1983.
  • 28.
    Anastassios Antonaras, Works from the collection of the Museum of Byzantine Culture. The Art of Glass, Thessaloniki: Museum of Byzantine Culture, 2019, p. 254, no 394
  • 29.
    Manojlović-Marijanski, op. cit., esp. p. 9–12, 32; Velika Dautova-Ruševljan, Miroslav Vujović, Kasnoantički šlem iz Jarka (Late Roman Helmet from Jarak), Novi Sad : Matica Srpska i Vojvodjanski Muzej, 2011, pp. 8, 16–18.
  • 30.
    Tomas, op. cit., pp. 39–50.
  • 31.
    Ammianus Marcellinus, Ammiani Marcellini Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt, XXVII, 10,11.
  • 32.
    Codices Gregorianus, Hermogenianus, Theodosianus, Gustav Friedrich Haenel, ed., Bonn 1842, X, 22.1.
  • 33.
    The find from Louloudies is a hitherto unpublished piece kept in the Museum of Byzantine Culture, from the excavations at the site of a Roman mansio, which evolved in the fourth century into a quadriburgium, which was populated until the seventh century, see Euterpi Marki, “Conclusions from the Excavations Conducted by the 9th Ephorate in North Pieria”, Archaiologiko Ergo sten Makedonia kai Thrake, 10A, 1996, pp. 239-258, esp. , pp. 239–243 (in Greek with English summary); Euterpi Marki, “Locating Productive and Workshop Activities in the Episcopal Complex at Louloudies, Pieria”, in 22nd Symposium of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Archaeology and Art, Program and abstracts, Athens, May 17, 18 and 19, 2002, pp. 65–66. (in Greek). The find from Zeugma was published in Grossmann, op. cit., p. 255, fig. 116.
  • 34.
    Arveiller-Dulong/Nenna 2011, op. cit., p. 337; Despoina Ignatiadou, Διαφανής ὕαλος για την αριστοκρατία της αρχαίας Μακεδονίας (Colourless glass for the élite in ancient Macedonia), Thessaloniki: Archaiologiko Institouto Makedoniko̲n kai Thrakiko̲n Spoudo̲n, 2013, pp. 211–318.
  • 35.
    Eva Marianne Stern, “Glass for the Gods”, in George Kordas, ed., Hyalos, Vitrum, Glass: History, Technology and Conservation of Glass and Vitreous materials in the Hellenic world, Athens: Glassnet publications, 2002, pp. 353-365, esp. pp. 355–356, figs 6 and 7; Despoina Ignatiadou, “Ελληνιστικό επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι με γυάλινους πεσσούς”, in Ancient Macedonia, sixth International Symposium 1996, vol. 1, Thessaloniki: Hidryma Meletōn Chersonēsou tou Haimou 1999, pp. 507­522; Thessaloniki 2010, Γυάλινος κόσμος. Glass cosmos, cat. cit., pp. 221–222, 373, 386, 399, nos 88, 90, 430, 453, 485; Ignatiadou 2013, op. cit., pp. 211–231; Véronique Arveiller-Dulong, Marie-Dominique Nenna, Les Verres antiques du Musée du Louvre. 2, Vaisselle et contenants du Ier siècle au début du VIIe siècle après J.-C, Paris: Somogy, 2005, pp. 337–340, nos 553–554, 558.
  • 36.
    Ingeborg Krueger, “Zu einigen grossen Smaragden aus Glas”, Journal of Glass Studies, 53, 2011, passim, esp. pp. 103–104.
  • 37.
    Antonaras 2018, op. cit., pp. 1–21.
  • 38.
    Davidson 1952, op. cit., p. 226, no 791; Danièle Foy, Les Verres antiques d’Arles. La collection du Musée départemental Arles antique, Paris: Errance – Arles: Musée départemental Arles antique, 2010, pp. 462–63, nos 944–949; Zbigniew T. Fiema, “Storing in the Church: Artefacts in Room I of the Petra Church”, in Luke Lavan, Ellen Swift, Toon Putzeys. eds., Objects in Context, Objects in Use, Material Spatiality in Late Antiquity, Leiden: Brill 2007, pp. 607‑624, esp. pp. 616–617.
  • 39.
    Berthelot, Collection I: 83, II: 348.
  • 40.
    Kurt Weitzmann, ed., Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century, exh. cat., New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 1977 – February 1978, New York: 1977, color plate XIV, cat. no 477; Steven N. Fleigel, A Higher Contemplation, Sacred Meaning in the Christian Art of the Middle Ages, Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, 2012, p. 2; Anastassios Antonaras, “Textiles and Clothing in the Collections of the Museum of Byzantine Culture”, in Calendar-album of the Museum of Byzantine Culture 2004, Thessaloniki 2004, pp. 50–51.
  • 41.
    Charalambos Bakirtzis, Eutuchia Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, Chrysanthi Mavropoulou-Tsioumi, Mosaics of Thessaloniki 4th-14th century, Athens: Kapon, 2012, pp. 48–237; Gianfranco Bustacchini, Ravenna capital of mosaic, Bologna: Italcards, 1989, passim; Massimiliano David, Eternal Ravenna. From the Etruscans to the Venetians, Turnhout: Brepols, 2013, passim.
  • 42.
    Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, New York – Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991, s.v. Gems, col. 828 with further bibliography.
  • 43.
    Exodus, xxviii, 17–20; xxxix, 10­13.
  • 44.
    Apocalypse, xxi, 18­21.
  • 45.
    Louis Duchesne, Le Liber pontificalis, texte, introduction et commentaire par l'abbé L. Duchesne, Paris: E. Thorin, 1886, Silvester XIII 17, XVIII 12, 17, 22, 25; Xystus III 4; Hilarus III 3, VII 22 ,VIII 3, IX 1; Symmachus VII 1; Hormisdas X 5-6; Iohannes I, VII 15–16; Gregorius IV; Leo IV 46.
  • 46.
    I wholeheartedly thank Dr. Warren Woodfin for discussing this topic with me and sharing his manuscript titled “The Mock Turtle’s Tears: Ersatz Enamel and the Hierarch of Media in Pseudo-Kodinos”, before its publication in the Journal of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. For the text and especially on the hyelion diagelaston, see Pseudo-Kodinos, De officiis, Ruth Macrides, Joseph. A. Munitz, Dimiter Angelov, eds., Pseudo-Kodinos and the Constantinopolitan Court: Offices and Ceremonies, Farnham – Burlington, Vt: Ashgate, 2013., pp. 54–55; Jean Verpeaux, Pseudo-Kodinos, Traité des offices, Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1966, p. 155, generally on different, earlier identifications of the world hyelion in this text, see ibid., p. 153, note. 1.
  • 47.
    Antonaras 2005, op. cit., pp. 332–334; Anastasios Antonaras, “Γυάλινα μεσοβυζαντινά βραχιόλια : συμβολή σε θέματα διάθεσης, παραγωγής, τυπολογίας και χρήσης“, Deltion tēs Cristianikēs Archaiologikēs Etaireias, 27, 2006, pp. 423–434; Natalija Ristovska, “Distribution patterns of middle Byzantine painted glass”, in Marlia Mundell Mango, ed., Byzantine Trade, 4th– 12th Centuries, Oxford: Routledge, 2009, pp. 199–220.
  • 48.
    On the technology of silver staining in middle Byzantine glass bracelets and vessels see David Whitehouse, Lisa Pilosi, Mark T. Wypyski, “Byzantine Silver Stain”, Journal of Glass Studies, 42, 2000, pp. 85–96.
  • 49.
    Quite similar to the techniques used for the production of glass bracelets in India even today. See Jan Kock, Torben Sode, Glass beads and Glassmakers in Northern India, Vanlose: THOT, 1994; Marie-Dominique Nenna, DVD, Glassmakers of Papanaidupet, DVD, Collection de l’Afrique à l’Inde, Alexandria: Centre d'Etudes Alexandrines, 2007.
  • 50.
    On the use of glass in Byzantine rings, see Antonaras 2005, op. cit., pp. 331–332. For Byzantine rings with glass gems from Corinth see Davidson 1952, op. cit., pp. 235–236, nos. 1821, 1822, 1824, 1829, 1830, 1833, pl. 102–103, dated to the Byzantine era and up to the Ottoman period; Thessaloniki 2002, Everyday Life in Byzantium, cat. cit., pp. 444–446, 568 nos. 584–585, 594 (M. Paisidou), 585-589, 590–591 (A. Dina), 592 (S. Kougioumtzoglou), 593, 768 (C. Koilakou), rings with glass gems dated between the tenth and the twelfth centuries; Diana Zafeiropoulou, Η συλλογή Γεωργίου Τσολοζίδη. Το Βυζάντιο μέσα από τα μάτια ενός συλλέκτη (Collection of Giorgos Tsolozidis. Byzantium through the eyes of a collector), exh. cat., Thessaloniki, Museum of Byzantine Culture, 2001, Athens: TAPA, 2001, p. 84 (A. Antonaras).
  • 51.
    Paul Gautier, ed., La Diataxis de Michel Attaliate, [Revue des études byzantine, 39], Paris: Institut français d'études byzantines, 1981, pp. 90–91.
  • 52.
    Gladys R. Davidson, “A Mediaeval Glass-Factory at Corinth”, American Journal of Archaeology, 44/3, 1940, pp. 297-324; esp. p. 322, fig. 23, no 78; Davidson 1952, op. cit., p. 262, nos. 2125–2128. For the redating of the site, see David Whitehouse, “Glassmaking at Corinth: A Reassessment”, in Danièle Foy, Geneviève Sennequier, eds., Ateliers de Verriers de l’antiquité a la période préindustrielle. Actes des 4èmes Rencontres de l’Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre, Rouen 24–25 novembre 1989, Rouen: l’Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre, 1991, pp. 73–82. Quite similar glass pendants have been unearthed in a middle Byzantine cemetery in the castle of Rentina, Antonaras 2019, op. cit., p. 187-189, nos. 247-251.
  • 53.
    Hans Wentzel, “Das Medaillon mit dem Hl. Theodor und die venezianischen Glaspasten im byzantinischen Stil”, in Werner Gramberg et al., eds., Festschrift für Erich Meyer zum sechzigsten Geburtstag, 29. Oktober 1957. Studien zu Werken in den Sammlungen des Museums für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg: Hauswedell, 1959, pp. 50–67; Hans Wentzel, “Zu dem Enkolpion mit dem Hl. Demetrios in Hamburg”, Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen, 8, 1963, pp. 11–24; Vassiliki Foskolou, “Glass medallions with religious themes in the Byzantine Collection at the Benaki Museum: a contribution to the study of pilgrim tokens in Late Middle Ages”, Μουσείο Μπενάκη, 4, 2004, pp. 51–73.
  • 54.
    Nikephoros Gregoras, Byzantine Historia, XI, éd. Ludwig Schopen, t. 1 [Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, 19], Bonn 1829, pp. 788–789.
  • 55.
    Paul Hetherington, “The Jewels from the Crown: Symbol and Substance in the Later Byzantine Imperial Regalia”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 96/1, 2003, pp. 157–168 with all prior bibliography. In addition, for the interpretation of the terms litharia yielia, literary “glass gems”, as enamels in the October 1396 inventory of the treasury of Hagia Sophia, see Paul Hetherington, “Byzantine and Russian Enamels in the Treasury of Hagia Sophia in the Late 14th Century”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 93/1, 2000, pp. 133–137.