Summary edit

Cameo of the Virgin   (  )
Artist	Anonymous (Byzantine Empire)Unknown author
Title	Cameo of the Virgin
Description	English: This small and delicately carved bloodstone cameo shows the Virgin standing and turning to her left, her arms raised in a gesture of prayer or supplication. An abbreviated inscription on either side identifies her as the "Mother of God." She is perhaps imploring her son to forgive the sins of humanity, and the original owner of this work no doubt hoped that she was interceding specifically on his or her behalf. The gold frame around the piece is modern, and it is unclear whether this small work was originally meant to be worn around the neck like many other carved Byzantine gems, or whether it was part of a small devotional diptych or triptych, arranged so that this panel was next to one depicting Christ, with the Virgin therefore directly gesturing toward her son. The image is carved on a bloodstone. The red streaks in this stone would have reminded pious viewers of the blood shed by Christ at the Crucifixion, perhaps focusing their thoughts on Mary's role at that event.
Date	circa 900 (Middle Ages era QS:P2348,Q12554 )
Medium	bloodstone (chalchedony), gold
Dimensions	height: 5.7 cm (2.2 in); width: 3 cm (1.1 in); depth: 0.6 cm (0.2 in) dimensions QS:P2048,5.7U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,3U174728 dimensions QS:P5524,0.6U174728
Collection	Walters Art Museum    Native name Walters Art Museum Location Baltimore, United States of America Coordinates 39° 17′ 48″ N, 76° 36′ 58″ W   Established 1934  Website thewalters.org Authority file : Q210081 VIAF: 128918374 ISNI: 000000040373611X ULAN: 500279110 LCCN: no00096900 GND: 16029354-6 WorldCat institution QS:P195,Q210081
Accession number	42.5
Place of creation	Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey)
Object history	Leon Gruel, Paris, by purchase 1928: purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore 1931: bequeathed to Walters Art Museum by Henry Walters
Exhibition history	Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1947. The Glory of Byzantium. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 1997. Realms of Faith: Medieval and Byzantine Art from the Walters Art Museum. Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville. 2001-2002. Realms of Faith: Medieval and Byzantine Art from the Walters Art Museum. Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville. 2002-2005. Realms of Faith: Medieval and Byzantine Art from the Walters Art Museum. Museum of Biblical Art, New York; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha. 2008-2009.
Credit line	Acquired by Henry Walters, 1928
Source	Walters Art Museum: Home page  Info about artwork
Permission (Reusing this file)	This work is free and may be used by anyone for any purpose. If you wish to use this content, you do not need to request permission as long as you follow any licensing requirements mentioned on this page. The Wikimedia Foundation has received an e-mail confirming that the copyright holder has approved publication under the terms mentioned on this page. This correspondence has been reviewed by a Volunteer Response Team (VRT) member and stored in our permission archive. The correspondence is available to trusted volunteers as ticket #2012021710000834. If you have questions about the archived correspondence, please use the VRT noticeboard. Ticket link: https://ticket.wikimedia.org/otrs/index.pl?Action=AgentTicketZoom&TicketNumber=2012021710000834 Find other files from the same ticket:
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This file was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the Walters Art Museum as part of a cooperation project. All artworks in the photographs are in public domain due to age. The photographs of two-dimensional objects are also in the public domain. Photographs of three-dimensional objects and all descriptions have been released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License. In the case of the text descriptions, copyright restrictions only apply to longer descriptions which cross the threshold of originality. العربيَّة | English | français | italiano | македонски | русский | sicilianu | +/−

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