VENETO-BYZANTINE, CIRCA 9TH CENTURY | LARGE ARCHITECTURAL PANEL WITH A CROSS

La Raccolta dell 'Antichita' Fiorillo, Semenzato Casa d'Aste, Viterbo, 21-24 September 2010, lot 3033;

Barbara Piasecka Johnson;

her sale, Christie's South Kensington, 24 February 2015, lot 204

Related Literature

W. F. Volbach, Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Italien und Byzanz, cat. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin and Leipzig, 1930

This impressive architectural panel is likely to have formed a balustrade panel or altar front in a church. The motif of a cross framed by intertwined geometrical patterns is a characteristic feature of Byzantine and Italo-Byzantine art around the 9th century. Compare several architectural stone fragments from Rome and Venice published in Volbach (op. cit., nos. 6365, 2759, 2923, the latter showing a similar lozenge-shaped design). The use of vibrant red 'Verona marble' (limestone) to enliven the composition indicates an origin in the Veneto.