Two Enamelled Icons of St. Michael the Archangel from Constantinople

Many Byzantine treasures can today be found in the treasury of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. It is a bit of mixed blessing. On the one hand, we can rightly lament the loss of that once great Christian city and what a jewel of Christendom it must have been, while on the other hand, were it not for these -- shall we politely call them -- "acquisitions" (in reality, they were part of the treasure that was looted by the Venetians during the Venetian conquest of Constantinople in the thirteenth century), these items may well have been melted down and lost to us and to history forever.  Fortunately, they have not been, and we can still see at least some such examples still today. (There was, at one time even more, however some of the treasure, including the imperial Byzantine crown, was lost -- melted down -- during the Napoleonic era.) 

There are many treasures in the treasury of the basilica that are worthy of attention, but today I wanted to pause and take a look at two enamlled icons of St. Michael the Archangel, both of which come from Constantinople, and both of which are true masterpieces of Byzantine art.  Both also come from relatively the same time period -- sometime around the eleventh century.  Let's dig into them a bit.

The first example is a silver-gilt, gold cloisonné enamel that includes various precious gemstones. It is dated to the late eleventh or early twelfth century. The central image shows us an image of St. Michael, holding his sword, and around him is a border including images of Christ as well as various saints. 

We are typically accustomed to icons being two dimensions creations, so it is worth pointing out that this particular image of St. Michael is semi-sculptural, with the figure and face being done in high relief. 

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Our second icon of St. Michael is also a silver-gilt, gold cloisonné enamelled icon with gemstones and at one time it also included pearls, but regrettably these are now missing. It, like the previous icon, is partially done in relief -- at least as far as the face of St. Michael is concerned. This particular icon was also from Constantinople and is dated to the late tenth to early eleventh century -- so it is possibly slightly earlier. 

In this particular instance, St. Michael is shown holding a sceptre in his hand rather than a sword, but like the former example, surrounding the main image of St. Michael is a decorative border containing enamelled images of various saints. 

It is worth observing the level of minute detail that can be found in both of these examples. These are highly intricate pieces and this showcases the level of skill that had been attained by the workshops of imperial Constantinople.  The workshops of the Byzantines took a backseat to no one. 

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