In the biographies of the popes in the *Liber Pontificalis*, lists are found of precious objects or coverings of rare metals donated to ancient Roman churches, but donations prior to the 6th century must be accepted with caution. Antiquity often gilded bronze (cf. the statue of Marcus Aurelius, or the column shafts of the Lateran Basilica, now affixed to the altar of the Most Holy Sacrament). In the proper field of goldsmithing, silver or copper also received gilding, and an alloy of gold and silver known as *electrum*, which had the color of amber, was also used. When two metals were not fused together but were inserted one into the other, what is now called *agemina* was produced, i.e., an inlaid work (cf., e.g., the small silver crosses inlaid in a bronze door of the 5th century in the Lateran Baptistery). Metals were also decorated with engravings (chased plates). If, for greater emphasis, a black paste was inserted into the cuts, the work was called *niello* (from *nigellus*). But more vivid effects were achieved by the inclusion of vitreous pastes (enamels), the oldest technique of which is the pouring of the vitreous material into the hollow (champlevé technique, i.e., of the spared cut), followed by the technique of cells with applied strips (cloisonné technique).
Rare stones were also used (especially garnets); or gems and cameos were added, supported by delicate frameworks of simple or perforated lamellae. Gold or silver plates (or those of other metals) were reduced to leaf by hammering, and were often pressed onto matrices to obtain repoussé figures (though bronze reliefs were produced by casting).
In truth, goldsmithing had great traditions, and therefore a highly refined technique. Bishops vied with one another to adorn the house of God with precious objects. The faithful also offered their private possessions, even those with secular imagery, which explains why such objects are not always found in the treasuries of the basilicas. Sometimes sovereigns even donated their crowns. A notice in the *Chronographia* of Theophanes (under the year 593) records that Emperor Maurice received from Sophia, widow of Justin II, and from his wife Constantina a splendid crown. The emperor, after admiring it, sent it to the church and had it suspended above the altar by means of three gold chains set with precious stones. This displeased the two donors greatly. A famous document of donation to a church is the *Charta Cornutiana* (471), relating to the generosity of the Catholic *flamen* Fl. Valila. It mentions, among other things, a copious silver set of vessels and lamps, and specifies their total weight as certified by the public scales (*ad stateram urbicam*).
Discoveries of goldsmithery (excluding the most overtly secular objects) have been numerous. However, they represent only a small fraction of what documents suggest, since antiquity and the Middle Ages delighted in precious furnishings. Invasions, various thefts, appropriations that led to the destruction of objects to melt down the metals, or to use the rare stones (as in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic period), as well as melts or sales to meet particular needs, reduced the vast patrimonies of basilicas and monasteries to a few, often fragmentary, examples. Sometimes an object has been restored in a much later period.
A famous discovery of furnishings was made by Grisar beneath the altar of the private chapel of the Popes in the Lateran Patriarchium (Sancta Sanctorum). Omitting more recent goldsmithery, mention should be made of the jeweled cross of the 6th–7th century, which contained a fragment of the True Cross immersed in balsam (now, like all other relics, in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican Library). It is a work in solid gold with inlays of red stones, gem settings, and edges of extremely fine beaded wire called "filigree." This *stauroteca* (reliquary of the Holy Cross) can certainly be identified with the one that Stephen II (752–757) carried in procession through Rome when the Lombard king Aistulf threatened the city. It is still coated with the balsam with which it was anointed by the popes in the Middle Ages. Another reliquary cross from the same treasury, conversely, is entirely in enamel and contains depictions from the cycle of the *Infancy of the Savior*. An inscription on the edge bears the name of Paschal I (817–824). The *cloisonné* enamel work here provides one of the earliest examples of this technique, since the partitions are not fine but in broader crusts, which might be thought to imitate *opus sectile* in marble, were it not for the edges of the cells. Both the *stauroteca* and this reliquary were kept in silver caskets with repoussé figures from the first decades of the 9th century.
The only surviving remnant of the earliest gifts to the Vatican Basilica (now in the treasury of St. Peter’s) is the cross of Emperor Justin II and his consort Sophia (565–578). The object consists of a gilded silver plate with repoussé images and additions of precious stones or pearls, some mounted in capsules on the edges, others hanging. The repoussé work depicts the faces of the imperial couple. An inscription (which may be a translation of an original in Greek) declares: *“Ligno quo Christus humanum subdidit hostem / dat Romae Iustinus opem et socia decorem.”*
Among gifts to other churches of Rome, mention should be made of: among the relics of the Holy Four Crowned Martyrs, a magnificent round casket, in the form of a vase, used for the head of St. Sebastian. Gregory IV (827–844) donated it to the Basilica (inscription), but the casket is older than this pope, since on the base is the monogram of a matron perhaps of the 5th century: Anatole. The object is of Hellenistic art. The church of SS. Sylvester and Martin *ai Monti* has an exceptional example of a silver lamp (of the *gabata* type) with transennal interlace and the dedication: *“Sancto Silvestro ancilla sua votum solvit.”*
In recent times, a group of silver sacred objects was discovered near Città di Castello (at Canoscio), including ciboria, trays, spoons, and a colander. The ciboria have the same form as those in the Carthage treasure, now in the British Museum (judged to date to the 4th–5th century). The xenodochium of Pammachius at Porto revealed silver plates and a spoon (4th–5th century). These were dispersed into various collections. Conversely, a fine group of 5th-century Christian silverware from the Caelian hill house of the Valerii (two spoons, two *amulae*, and a small amphora with sacred images, a cup) is in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican Library. The famous Esquiline treasure, now largely in the British Museum, should also be noted, though it contains only secular representations.
From Antioch on the Orontes, or its vicinity, come several silver repoussé works from the 6th–7th centuries, including a chalice, a cross, and three book covers (the most striking depicting two apostles), as well as an extraordinary Syrian chalice from the 6th century. All are adorned with vine-like foliage in openwork, featuring figures of Christ, the Apostles, a sheep, and an eagle (v. ANTIOCHIA DI SIRIA). This relic is now in a private collection in New York.
The island of Cyprus has yielded two groups of objects (both discovered in the Kyrenia district): the first is in the British Museum, while the second is divided between the Morgan Collection (New York) and the Nicosia Museum (with the latter were coins from 565–685, and the other may also date to the 6th–7th centuries). Notable in the Morgan Collection is a group of figured plates depicting the story of David (Wilpert considered them forgeries, but without sufficient evidence).
The treasure discovered at Luxor is housed in the Cairo Museum, where silver book covers with inscriptions are preserved, one of which mentions an “abba” Abraham (material from a diaconia of the 5th–6th centuries). The Stúmá treasure (Aleppo district) is in the Constantinople Museum: three plates and two flabella (works from the 6th–7th centuries). One plate depicts the Last Supper, which also appears on the paten of another treasure, that of Riha (south of Antioch: V. COMUNIONE EUCARISTICA). Here, a chalice and two patens from the 6th century reappear, with a beautifully animated depiction of the Communion of the Apostles.
Other groups of objects include the Traprain Law treasure (Scotland, now in the British Museum), which includes, among other items, a possibly 4th-century amphora with vigorous repoussé scenes from the Old and New Testaments; the Lampsacus treasure (candlestick, low-foot vessel—perhaps a chalice—and basin; 6th century); the aforementioned Carthage treasure (4th–5th centuries); and the Mildenhall treasure (with splendid plates and spoons, featuring pagan imagery; 4th century?). These last three groups are in the British Museum, as is the Sutton Hoo treasure.
In addition to the objects from the Monza (v.) Bobbio (v.), a series of silver reliquary caskets is found in churches and museums, such as the cubic casket of SS. Nazarius and Celsus in Milan, which some have claimed to be a Renaissance imitation, though it is certainly early Christian and possibly from the time of St. Ambrose, founder of the Basilica. Here, in the scene of the Adoration of the Magi, the donors are not depicted in traditional garments but as powerful semi-nude figures. The style is sincerely impressionistic (compare with the analogous stylistic tendencies seen in the surviving fragments of the original pavement of the Ambrosian Basilica); yet see also the treatment of the apostolic figures in another casket: the unusual polygonal-shaped one found at Pola and now in the Vienna Museum (4th century).
The cathedral of Grado has an oval and a round chapel. The first features rather crude images (clipei with Christ and SS. Peter and Paul, etc.) but still linked to classical tradition, while the second holds a triumphant enthroned Madonna holding the processional cross. Though differing in craftsmanship and stylistic derivation, both may date to the 5th century, the earliest phase of the basilicas on the Gradese island.
Of great importance is the oval silver casket from Henchir-Zirara near Tebessa (Numidia), now in the Vatican Museums. It depicts a young martyr between two candelabra and dates to the early 5th century. From roughly the same period is the casket found at Brivio (Lombardy), now in the Louvre (with the Adoration of the Magi, the Three Youths in the Furnace, and the Raising of Lazarus). Similarly dated
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GOLDSMITHING — Staurotheca with the figures of Constantine and St. Helena. Byzantine art (13th century) — Urbino, Ducal Palace.
is a chapel in the Sancta Sanctorum with the Adoration of the Cross. We omit examples of royal caskets from the barbarian period, including the remarkable one from Hertford, which also features gemstone inlays, those from St-Benoît-sur-Loire, St-Bonnet-Avalouze, the cathedrals of Chur and Sion (both in Switzerland), and the monastery of St-Maurice d'Agaune (also in Switzerland). The latter is a marvelous example with a gold transenna on a red ground, set with stones and a cameo—Frankish work from the 7th century.
Regarding chalices and patens, mention should be made of the two-handled, lobed chalice from Gourdon (now in the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris). Garnets and turquoises accent the delicate gold filigree that adorns the upper part of the cup—a Merovingian work from the 6th century, though found with Byzantine gold coins. A rectangular gold plate with a central cross accompanies the chalice, the contrast between the gold openwork and the red ground being striking. The tall chalice from Chelles, with similar openwork and checkerboard sectors of white and green enamel, is lost. It was once believed to be the work of St. Eligius, the famous Merovingian goldsmith. The chalice of Kremsmünster (Austria), bearing the epigraphic cord of Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria (Tassilo dux fortis Liutpric virgo regalis), is of historical value (late 8th century). Elegant in its slender form, it features interlace decorations comparable to Scandinavian oval works with figures of Christ and the Evangelists. In contrast, the chalice of Ardagh (Ireland) is low and of Celtic craftsmanship. The chalice of Lamon (Trentino), simple in workmanship with an inscription referring to a deacon named Orso, is also notable (v. CALICE).
Among the patens are the Berezoff paten (Siberia), once in the Stroganoff Collection and now back in Russia (with a fine depiction of two angels and the Cross; the work is more likely from the 6th than the 5th century); the paten of Bishop Paterno, also found in Russia; and the paten of Suger (green enamel ground with gold leaf fish, gold framework with gemstones; part of the treasury of the Abbey of St-Denis and once thought to date to the 6th century). For us, it may be a Merovingian work from the 7th century. Among vessels, the Emesa piece (now in the Louvre) is notable—a Syrian amphora-shaped work with clipei depicting Christ, the Madonna, and saints, dating to the 5th century.
The pendent crowns from the ciborium above the altar include the Monza examples. However, the substantial group found at Guarrazar must also be mentioned, now housed in Madrid (Museo nacional). This is a magnificent ensemble of votive crowns with repoussé work, openwork, and gemstones. The crowns still retain their finely crafted suspension chains, with richly gemmed crosses hanging from their centers. An inscription reveals that the donor was Recensivnhus Rex (associated with his father Chindasuinth in 649, ruling alone from 653 until his death in 672). A richly gemmed and pearl-bordered cross-reliquary (6th–7th century) is preserved in Tournai Cathedral.
As for fixed altars made of precious materials, only one from the early Middle Ages can be cited: the work of the goldsmith Vuolvinus in the Ambrosian Basilica. It features repoussé scenes of the life of St. Ambrose and is richly decorated with enamels, gemstones, and cameos. Its dating is debated—some parts were added later—but the oldest sections certainly date to the 9th century.
A Carolingian reliquary, known only through reproductions, was once in the Abbey of St-Denis. It was called the *escrain de Charlemagne* but likely belonged to Charles the Bald. It was entirely encrusted with gemstones.
Of cross processional: the well-known ones from Brescia (Sacred Art Museum), Ravenna (Cathedral), Cividale (Museum), the first (8th century) adorned with gems and gilded glass (the finest known) with portraits of a 4th-century family, the second with repoussé silver medallions (busts of saints). The central part with the Madonna is later than the 6th century, in which the cross must have been originally made; the third (with a rough Crucifix) is a barbaric work perhaps of the 8th century. Among small crosses (for personal use), various encolpia are of precious material. Of particular interest is the gold one found at St Lawrence outside the Walls in Rome and now in the Vatican Sacred Art Museum. It has floral designs standing out against the sacred niello background. A screw-ring is inserted into II. An inscription reads: «Nobiscum Deus Emmanuel – Crux est vita mihi. Mors, inimica tibi». The work is perhaps from the 6th century.