Everyday Life in Byzantium
Page 24
Many of the earlier silver dishes, produced in the imperial workshops and stamped with the imperial silver marks, display the same gift for sculpture and the same delight in classical themes as the early ivories. After the fall of the iconoclasts, that is to say, during the middle period of Byzantine art, ornate, lavishly ornamented vessels of a different, typically Byzantine type became fashionable. The decorations on gold, silver or copper gilt ones, and more especially on the Gospel covers, were often executed in the repoussé and filigree techniques and enhanced with precious or semi-precious stones, enamel inlays and cloisonné enamels. The latter demanded the utmost skill in their execution. Generally they were made of a gold base, often no more than half an inch across. The technique consisted in attaching wire-like partitions to the base and filling in the spaces with paste, which was then fired to give a translucent effect. The designs chosen for these enamels generally consisted of busts or figures of Christ, the Virgin or some particular saint, though sometimes a floral motif or bird was chosen instead. No less popular than vessels of metal were those in which the body was made of some semi-precious stone such as onyx, rock crystal, alabaster or the like, set on elaborately worked gold stems. Splendid examples of these, in some cases enhanced by the addition of inset stones or enamel, are to be seen in the treasury of St Mark’s at Venice; some of them were probably taken there by returning Crusaders.
The earliest Byzantine textiles probably resembled those from Coptic Egypt. During the fifth and sixth centuries the decorations acquired a more markedly Byzantine character. Floral compositions or baskets of fruit, corresponding in style to the decorative sections of the mosaics of Haghia Sophia and of the floor of the Great Palace at Constantinople, were produced in brighter colours than in the earlier stuffs. These designs were often used in conjunction with the Chi Rho and other Christian symbols. More varied techniques and more elaborate weaves had also been evolved by then, the designs being sometimes made by the use of a ‘resist’ substance employed prior to being dyed.
The first silks produced in Byzantium were experimental. They were largely intended as trimmings and the designs chosen were therefore kept small whilst the colours were generally restricted to two shades. But by the middle of the sixth century many more colours and infinitely more ambitious designs were being created. Much of the inspiration came from Persia and Egypt. There were scenes of animals and birds, sometimes with lion heads, which were shown either singly or confronted, frequently with a stylised tree of life between them. Such creatures were often enclosed in a circle. Other designs, such as Samson wrestling with a lion, or that of an archer, though Byzantine inventions, follow Persian traditions. Perhaps the most famous of surviving Byzantine stuffs are the fragments of the Quadriga textile, a magnificent lion silk inscribed with the names of Romanus and Christopher (921-31), a ninth-century piece with a great eagle as its central design in the church of St Eusebius at Auxerre, which is believed to have come from the same workshop as the lion silk, and the elephant stuff which Emperor Otto placed in the tomb of Charlemagne which he opened in the year 1000.
Very little glass has survived from the Byzantine period. Some of the finest is also some of the earliest; it has come down to us mostly in the form of broad bases for stemless vessels in the fondo d’oro technique, that is to say of a figural, animal or geometric design executed in gold leaf set between two thicknesses of glass. It is probably due to this double thickness that the bases of glasses whose sides were made of a thinner layer owe their survival. Many must have been made in Egypt, but by the sixth century Jewish glass-blowers had workshops in Constantinople and may well have made the glass lamps with which the cathedral of Haghia Sophia was lit in 563. These lamps are thought to have resembled some found at Jerash which are shaped like small inverted bells. By the ninth century, and probably well before, flat-bottomed vessels with bulbous sides and long, narrow necks, candlesticks with flat bases and stems not unlike tall, narrow tumblers and glass lamps were being made. The latter were often set in elaborate mounts made of silver or gold. However, certainly during both Golden Ages, much of the glass-maker’s output must have been devoted to producing the slabs from which the small square, rectangular or octagonal window panes were made and the coloured sticks which were cut into mosaic cubes, the gold ones being made on the same principle as the fondo d’oro vessels. The ability to make the coloured glass sticks bears out the literary references to the existence of coloured glass vessels but, so far, the only example known to us is the tenth-century red glass bowl preserved in the treasury of St Mark’s in Venice. Other vessels of comparable quality are thick, moulded ones in uncoloured glass and decorated with animal designs executed in rather high relief.
Recent discoveries in Constantinople suggest that, by the eleventh century, the Byzantines may have begun fitting the windows of their churches with stained glass set in lead and decorated with paint to form pictorial compositions similar to those produced for the same purpose at only a slightly later date in the West. If this theory is confirmed it would indicate that the Byzantines, and not Western Europeans, invented and first practised this glorious form of church decoration.
102 Samson wrestling with a lion, from a sixth-century silver dish
CHRONOLOGY OF EMPERORS OF BYZANTIUM
Note: where dates overlap, the emperors in question were co-rulers
Dynasty of Constantine
Constantine I, the Great, 306-37 Constantius, 337-61
Julian, 361-3
Intermediary dynasty
Jovian, 363-4
Valens, 364-78
Dynasty of Theodosius
Theodosius I, the Great, 379-95
Arcadius, 395-408
Theodosius II, 408-50
Marcian, 450-7
Dynasty of Leo
Leo I, 457-74
Leo II, 474
Zeno, 474-91
Anastasius, 491-518
Dynasty of Justinian
Justin I, 518-27
Justinian I, the Great, 527-65
Justin II, 565-78
Tiberius II, 578-82
Maurice, 582-602
Phocas, the Usurper, 602-10
Dynasty of Heraclius
Heraclius, 610-41
Constantine II and Heraclonas, 641
Constantine DI or Constans 11,641-68
Constantine IV Pogonatus, 668-85
Justinian II Rhinotmetus, 685-95
Leontius (usurper), 695-8
Tiberius (usurper), 698-705
Dynasty of Heraclius restored
Justinian II Rhinotmetus (second reign), 705-11
Philippicus Bardanes (non-dynastic), 711-13
Anastasius II (non-dynastic), 713-15
Theodosius DI (non-dynastic), 715-17
Dynasty of Isaurians
Leo III, 717-41
Constantine V Copronymus, 741-75
Leo IV (husband of Empress Irene), 775-80
Constantine VI (son of Empress Irene), 780-97
Irene, 797-802
Nicephorus I (usurper), 802-11
Stauracius (usurper), 811
Michael I Rhangabe (married to Empress Procopia), 811-13
Leo V, the Armenian (usurper), 813-20
Dynasty of the Amorians or Phrygians
Michael II, the Stammerer, 820-9
Theophilus, 829-42
Michael III, the Drunkard, 842-67
Dynasty of Macedonians
Basil I, 867-86
Leo VI, the Wise, 886-912 (Alexander, co-ruler, 886-913)
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, 913-59 (co-ruler with his father-in-law, Romanus Lecapenus, 920-44)
Romanus II, 959-63
Nicephorus II Phocas (usurper), 963-9
John I Tzimisces (usurper), 969-76
Dynasty of Macedonians restored
Basil II Bulgaroctonos (or Bulgarslayer), 976-1025
Constantine VIII, 1025-8
Romanus II Argyrus (husband of Empress Zoe), 1028-34
Michael IV, the Paphlagonian (second husband of Empress Zoe), 1034-41
Michael V Kalaphates, 1041-2
Zoe and Theodora, 1042
Constantine IX Monomachus, 1042-55
Theodora, 1055-6
Michael VI Stratioticus (non-dynastic), 1056-7
Ducas and Comnene dynasty
Isaac I Comnenus, 1057-9
Constantine X Ducas, 1059-67
Romanus IV Diogenes, 1067-71
Michael VII Parapinakes, 1071-8
Nicephorus III Botaniates (usurper), 1078-81
Dynasty of the Comnenes
Alexius I Comnenus, 1081-1118
John II, 1118-43
Manuel I Comnenus, 1143-80
Alexius II Comnenus, 1180-3
Andronicus I Comnenus, 1183-5
Dynasty of the Angell
Isaac II Angelus, 1185-95 (and again, 1203-4)
Alexius III, 1195-1203
Alexius IV, 1203-4
Alexius V Ducas Mourtzouphlus (usurper), 1204
Latin rulers of Constantinople
Baldwin of Flanders, 1204-5
Henry of Flanders, 1206-16
Peter of Courtenay, 1217
Yolande, 1217-19
Robert II of Courtenay, 1221-8
Baldwin II, 1228-61
Greek emperors of Nicaea
Theodore I Lascaris, 1204-22
John III Ducas Vatatzes, 1222-54
Theodore II, 1254-8
John IV, 1258-61
Michael VIII Palaeologus, 1259-82
Dynasty of the Palaeologi
Michael VIII, 1261-82
Andronicus II, 1282-1328
Andronicus III, 1328-41
Michael IX, 1294-1320
John V, 1341-91
John VI Cantacuzenus (usurper), 1347-55
Andronicus IV, 1376-9
John VII, 1390
Manuel II, 1391-1425
John VIII, 1425-48
Constantine XI Dragases, 1449-53