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Jan 26, 2010

Nov 4, 2005

Feb 10, 2006

Jan 26, 2010

Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure

c. 500–700

early Byzantium, Constantinople or Syria, Byzantine period, 6th-7th Century

Silver

Overall: 17 x 14.2 cm (6 11/16 x 5 9/16 in.)

Weight: 300.5 g (10.6 oz.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1950.378

Location

105 Byzantine

Description

These four liturgical silver vessels—a paten and three chalices (1950.378–81)—form what is now called the Beth Misona Treasure, named for the village in northern Syria for which the objects were made. While nothing is known about the exact location and circumstances of the treasure's discovery, the people of the village of Beth Misona were, like other Christian communities in Syria and Palestine, probably forced to bury their church silver to hide it from the Persians or Arabs, who conquered their lands in the first half of the 600s. The paten, which held pieces of Eucharistic bread used during Mass, is decorated with an engraved Latin cross surrounded by a dedicatory inscription that names the paten's donor—Domnos—and its original location, the church of Saint Sergios in Beth Misona. The chalices, which contained the Eucharistic wine used during Mass, feature broad cups decorated with portrait busts of Saints Peter and Paul, Christ, and the Virgin. One chalice bears a dedicatory inscription naming its donor—Kyriakos, Domnos's son—and the priest of the church that received the pious gift—Zeno.

Inscriptions

Inscription

the Greek inscription at the top, under an engraved line translates as: + The priest, KYRIAKOS, son of DOMNOS, (gave this chalice) to St. Sergios, in the time of Zeno the priest.

Provenance

Jacques O. Matossian; Paul Mallon, New York).

Citations

Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” July 9, 1951, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 51 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 38 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 38 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 38 archive.org

Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 52-53, no. 9

Leader-Newby, Ruth. "Early Christian Silver: Sacred and Domestic." In The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art. Robin Margaret Jensen and Mark D. Ellison, editors. Abingdon Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. Reproduced: p. 244, fig. 15.2

Exhibition history

Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery: "Silver from Early Byzantium" 1986, cat. no. 57, p. 228

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 5, 1977-March, 1, 1978.

Worcester Art Museum (10/7/00-2/4/01); The Cleveland Museum of Art (3/18/01-6/3/01);

The Baltimore Museum of Art (9/16/01-12/30/01); "Antioch: The Lost Ancient City", exh. cat. no. 98, p. 211; color repr. p. 211.

Bavarian Nationalmuseum, Munich (5/10/2007 - 9/16/2007), the J. Paul Getty Musuem, Los Angeles (10/30/2007 - 1/20/2008) and Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (2/13/2009 - 6/7/2009): "Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art"

35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).

All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 23, 1994-January 8, 1995).

Antioch: The Lost Ancient City. Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA (organizer) (October 7, 2000-February 4, 2001); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 25-June 3, 2001); The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (August 30-December 30, 2001).

Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1950.378|year=c. 500–700|access-date=02 October 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure

Chalice from the Beth Misona Treasure

early Byzantium, Constantinople or Syria, Byzantine period, 6th-7th Century

Location

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