DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55205#0026
20 THE MOSAICS OF THE SOUTHERN VESTIBULE
Toga Trabeata in Consular Diptychs. This design repeats the favourite pattern
on the tenth- to eleventh-century marble and schist slabs. We have a sequence
of large lozenges in each of which is inscribed a circle; within each circle there
is drawn a quatrefoil cruciform rosette. The angles of most of the lozenges
terminate in a knot, and a form similar to the lily-like flower on the globes of
the throne springs from the middle of each side. This trefoil is like that on the
mosaics of St. Irene and is especially frequent in Byzantium in the tenth and
eleventh centuries [9]. Between the lozenges appear small circles like those on
the armlets of the chiton. The loros of Constantine ends with a slightly different
pattern, a double palmette from the middle of which springs the same lily-
shaped flower, and in the field are small green circles. The ends of the loros of
Justinian have no special ornamental design. The end which hangs down on his
left is folded, and on it is visible half of the lozenge. Below this we see a triangular
piece of the blue lining. It will be noticed that of the loros of the Emperor
Constantine we are shown much of the ornament and little of the lining. Con-
trasted with this magnificence is the soberer aspect of the vestments of Justinian
in which the lining of the loros is very evident. Besides, the use of silver tessellae
in his loros and of red tessellae in that of Constantine adds to the emphasis of
splendour that is laid on the appearance of the latter. This intention is carried
to such a point that at the right corner of the lower end of Constantine’s loros,
where the garment is turned and we should see the lining, the artist has ignored
reality and has extended the design of the embroidery from the face of the
material on to the back of it and has continued the pattern there.
The form and ornamentation of the crowns (Pl. XIV) are characteristic of
the tenth and eleventh centuries; similar ones are seen on the Bamberg textile
and in many miniatures in the Menologion of Basil II; they are simpler and less
jewelled than Justinian’s crown in Ravenna of the sixth century.
The Emperors are crowned with the imperial stemma, a gold circlet covered
with enamel seeming to represent golden sard surmounted by a triple ornament
composed of a cross of pearls flanked by a grape-shaped pearl set on a peg
on each side. Pendants called prependulia hang from both sides, each consisting
of three large pear-shaped pearls—the Roman elenchi. They are visible below
the side-locks of the Emperors. The chains to which these pearls were attached
and which often appear on both sides of an Emperor’s face are not visible here.
The pearls in the crown are set in an all-round rubbed over setting in the
usual manner of Byzantine jewellers. The round pearls on Constantine’s crown
appear to project somewhat, and viewed from the floor below seem more
brilliant than those in Justinian’s crown. This effect is produced by the use of
tessellae set in circles around the pearls in Justinian’s and in squares around the
Toga Trabeata in Consular Diptychs. This design repeats the favourite pattern
on the tenth- to eleventh-century marble and schist slabs. We have a sequence
of large lozenges in each of which is inscribed a circle; within each circle there
is drawn a quatrefoil cruciform rosette. The angles of most of the lozenges
terminate in a knot, and a form similar to the lily-like flower on the globes of
the throne springs from the middle of each side. This trefoil is like that on the
mosaics of St. Irene and is especially frequent in Byzantium in the tenth and
eleventh centuries [9]. Between the lozenges appear small circles like those on
the armlets of the chiton. The loros of Constantine ends with a slightly different
pattern, a double palmette from the middle of which springs the same lily-
shaped flower, and in the field are small green circles. The ends of the loros of
Justinian have no special ornamental design. The end which hangs down on his
left is folded, and on it is visible half of the lozenge. Below this we see a triangular
piece of the blue lining. It will be noticed that of the loros of the Emperor
Constantine we are shown much of the ornament and little of the lining. Con-
trasted with this magnificence is the soberer aspect of the vestments of Justinian
in which the lining of the loros is very evident. Besides, the use of silver tessellae
in his loros and of red tessellae in that of Constantine adds to the emphasis of
splendour that is laid on the appearance of the latter. This intention is carried
to such a point that at the right corner of the lower end of Constantine’s loros,
where the garment is turned and we should see the lining, the artist has ignored
reality and has extended the design of the embroidery from the face of the
material on to the back of it and has continued the pattern there.
The form and ornamentation of the crowns (Pl. XIV) are characteristic of
the tenth and eleventh centuries; similar ones are seen on the Bamberg textile
and in many miniatures in the Menologion of Basil II; they are simpler and less
jewelled than Justinian’s crown in Ravenna of the sixth century.
The Emperors are crowned with the imperial stemma, a gold circlet covered
with enamel seeming to represent golden sard surmounted by a triple ornament
composed of a cross of pearls flanked by a grape-shaped pearl set on a peg
on each side. Pendants called prependulia hang from both sides, each consisting
of three large pear-shaped pearls—the Roman elenchi. They are visible below
the side-locks of the Emperors. The chains to which these pearls were attached
and which often appear on both sides of an Emperor’s face are not visible here.
The pearls in the crown are set in an all-round rubbed over setting in the
usual manner of Byzantine jewellers. The round pearls on Constantine’s crown
appear to project somewhat, and viewed from the floor below seem more
brilliant than those in Justinian’s crown. This effect is produced by the use of
tessellae set in circles around the pearls in Justinian’s and in squares around the