Displaying an Icon: The Mosaic Icon of Saint Demetrios at Sassoferrato and its Frame (original) (raw)

Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie (ed.), New Research on Late Byzantine Goldsmiths’ Works (13th-15th Centuries) / Neue Forschungen zur spätbyzantinischen Goldschmiedekunst (13.-15. Jahrhundert), Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident 13 (Mainz 2019) 43-53

This chapter is devoted to a Late Byzantine mosaic icon and its silver frame, both known since the 15th century, and now kept in the Museo Civico in Sassoferrato. The icon, a precious object in terms of material and technique, and its frame, complement each other and present a complex and outstanding programme of veneration of St Demetrios of Thessaloniki. Elements are the representations of the saint itself, as well as an ampulla containing the holy myron and inscriptions referring to him. This unusual programme asks for a specific commission and, indeed, the emblems in the corners of the frame point to a member of the imperial family of the Palaiologoi, probably Demetrios Palaiologos (c. 1296-1344), despot of Thessaloniki, with a deep veneration of St Demetrios.