Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: The enormous prestige accorded to Byzantine cloisonné enamel seems to have continued into the Palaiologan period, although evidence suggests that its production ceased in the decades after the Fourth Crusade. The medium of the imperial images described by Pseudo-Kodinos as ὑπὸ ὑελίου λεγομένου διαγελάστου, which was worn on the headgear of thirteen ranks of court officials, is here identified asverre églomisé, reverse painting on glass. A reading of Pseudo-Kodinos’ treatise alongside surviving works of art suggests that fourteenth-century Byzantines were consciously using ersatz media in an effort to keep up the appearance of continuity with the empire's more prosperous past.
DOI: 10.1017/byz.2016.29
Author: Warren T. Woodfin
Institution: Queens College, CUNY
Language: English
Subfield: Classics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2596964264