Tag: Blick-Harris Study Collection
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A “Retro” Slavonic Psalter: Exploring Manuscript Culture in Eastern Europe
By Sam Bowden ’24 Artist unknown. A leaf from a Passion, 18th century, ink on paper, 8 ½ × 6 ¾ in. (21.6 × 17.2 cm), Blick-Harris Study Collection, 2020.456. This page is a beautiful example of an Eastern Orthodox illuminated manuscript. One side (the recto) is clearly brighter than the other. Despite many archaic…
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Miliaresion of Basil II and Constantine VIII (977–989)
This miliaresion of Basil II and Constantine VIII is ornate in imagery and meaning. The obverse shows two busts separated by a cross with crossed ends, a globus (a sphere representing the world), and a stepped base (Dumbarton Oaks, n.d.). Basil II, on the left, wears the loros, an imperial golden scarf, and is bearded…
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Follis of Leo VI (886–912)
This follis of Leo VI depicts the Byzantine emperor on the obverse sitting on a lyre-backed throne wearing a crown and a ceremonial garment. One hand is raised holding a scepter, the other resting in his lap. This small copper follis was worth 288ths of a gold coin in the ninth-century which could have bought…
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Follis of Constantine VII and Zoë (914–919)
On the obverse of this Byzantine coin, the upper-bodies of Emperor Constantine VII and his mother Zoë are depicted side-by-side. Constantine VII is on the viewer’s left, wearing the emperor’s traditional garment, a loros, and a crown with a cross. Zoë is on the right, wearing another traditional imperial garment, a chlamys, and a crown…