Pages: 251-264

One of the most precious Byzantine objects in the collection of the Princes Czartoryski Museum in Krakow is the double-sided pendant in the form of a carved wooden medallion (9.8 × 7.2 × 1.5 cm) with a refined openwork filigree silver-gilt mount studded with pearls and garnets (inv. no. MNK XIII-475). There is a depiction of the Virgin and Child on the front and of three saints with a temple model on the back. Its features suggest that it was made in the second half of the 18th century, probably in one of the monastic centers on Mount Athos, perhaps at Simonopetra or — even more plausibly — at Hilandar; and all the more so if the figures depicted in the medallion actually are St Sava, the first Serbian Archbishop, and St Simeon, his father and the first Serbian king.

Keywords: Byzantium, Hilandar, Simonopetra, Czartoryski, encolpion, St. Sabbas, St. Sava, St. Simeon, minor arts

Information about author:

Mirosław Piotr Kruk (Kraków, Poland). Doctor Habilitat of History of Art. Institute of the Art History, University of Gdańsk.  Bielańska St., 5, 80-952, Gdańsk, Poland; Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace, Branch of the National Museum in Krakow. Kanonicza St., 17, 31-002, Kraków, Poland
E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]