Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection Hardcover - 2006

From the jacket flap

Marvin Ross's groundbreaking catalogue of jewelry in the Byzantine Collection at Dumbarton Oaks was first published in 1965. It became the second volume of the Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. At the time of its publication, Ross's jewelry catalogue demonstrated a thoroughness of analysis seldom attained before. The volume has long been out of print, but its enormous popularity and enduring status led to the decision to reprint it. Accompanying the reprint edition is an Addendum by Susan Boyd and Stephen Zwirn composed of the twenty-two objects that entered the Dumbarton Oaks Collection between 1961--Ross's actual cut-off date--and 1999. These include two large opus interrasile pendants with double solidi of Constantine I; a well-preserved Middle Byzantine gold and pearl earring with matching ring; and several unusual double-sided hinged medallions, two in silver and one an exquisitely crafted gold and cloisonne enamel quatrefoil embellished with images of Christ and the Virgin. Boyd and Zwirn have been able to take advantage of technological advances since the publication of the first catalogue. Each Addendum entry is accompanied by a technical description and an alloy analysis of the gold, silver, bronze, or niello content of the object. This information will be integrated, it is hoped, into future databases for the study of Byzantine jewelry and will enhance the interpretation of a variety of fields of Byzantine and mediaveal history. Marvin C. Ross was widely known as an authority on the minor arts of the Middle Ages. Formerly Curator of Mediaeval and Subsequent Decorative Arts at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, he published its catalogues on the arts of the Migration Period and on Italian majolica, and, in 1947, organized its exhibition of Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Mr. Ross was for many years Curator of the Collections at the Hillwood Museum in Washington, DC. Susan Boyd was Curator of the Byzantine Collection from 1979 until 2004. Stephen Zwirn is currently the Assistant Curator, the Byzantine Collection.