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Lamp or perfume-burner in shape of domed building
Treasury of San Marco Venice.
Sicily or Southern Italy, late 12th century
A detail of the figures on the doors
Lamp or perfume-burner in shape of domed building
Southern Italian(?), end of 12th century
Silver, partly gilt. Height 360mm, width 300mm
Tesoro, no. 142 (adapted after 1231(?) to serve as a reliquary of the Holy Blood and listed thus in the 1283 inventory: no. 1)
The double doors of the building are half-rounded; between them is a lion-mask. Each door is embossed with an allegorical figure with a nimbus decorated with pounced vermiculation, identified by an inscription. On the left door is a helmeted warrior wearing a short pleated tunic, breast-plate and long cloak. He is leaning on a spear and shield and personifies courage (“ΑΝΔΡΙΑΑ”). On the right-hand door is intelligence (“ΗΦΡΟΝΕCΙC”), depicted as a female wearing a closely fitting tunic and a long skirt. Standing between two small trees, she touches her forehead with her right index-finger. The door is hinged to open.
This precious object in San Marco, whether lamp or perfume-burner, was made at the end of the twelfth century in a milieu open to strong Byzantine but also Oriental and Western influences: Sicily or the Bari area, or perhaps Venice itself.
Source: The Treasury of San Marco Venice, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York