contribution #459

contents

{
  "description": "A small silver-and-niello bird-pendant, Byzantine ninth or tenth century, of approx. 32 mm length and 7.7 g weight. The body is in low-relief filigree; niello-work crosses both wings and the tail in a chevron pattern. A Greek inscription is incised upon the reverse in three groups: Ω ΧΡΕ Ε (abbreviation for Χριστὲ ἐλέησον, Christ have mercy). The lower left wing carries a slight ancient bend at its leading edge, approx. 6 mm, of recognisable form. The object surfaces in three documented archival episodes — Venice 1483-85, London 1879, Brooklyn 1968 — and may be the same object in each. The chain of later workmanship (Continental, probably 17th cent.) has accompanied the pendant since at least the 1853 Trieste dispersal of the Casa Venier."
}