Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I
Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I
Property from the Collection of the late Antonin and Christiane Besse
A Byzantine Mosaic Panel, circa early 5th Century A.D.
Auction Closed
December 7, 04:32 PM GMT
Estimate
18,000 - 22,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from the Collection of the late Antonin and Christiane Besse
A Byzantine Mosaic Panel
circa early 5th Century A.D.
of rectangular form, composed of black and red tesserae arranged in six lines of Greek inscription set within a blue rectangular frame against a white background, the inscription translating "In the year 727 (probably A.D. 415/416) the most sacred church was paved with mosaics, under the most venerable bishop Alexander, under John the periodeutes, Antiochos the priest, Stephen the deacon, Benjamin the cantor, and Thalassios the steward of Cyril" and terminating in a palm frond.
78.5 by 200 cm.
Asfar Bros., Hotel St George, Beirut (recorded there by Henri Seyrig in 1968)
Antonin Besse (1927-2016) and Christiane Besse (1928-2021), Beirut and Paris, acquired from the above and shipped to France in January 1970
Published
Sh. McNally, Bulletin -The Minneapolis Institute of Art, vol. 58/5, 1969, p. 5, no. 1
P. Canivet, "Nouvelles inscriptions grecques chrétiennes à Huarte d'Apamène (Syrie)", Travaux et Mémoires du Centre de Recherches d'Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, vol. 7, 1979, p. 357, note 4
P. Donceel-Voûte, Les pavements des églises byzantines de Syrie et du Liban. Décor, archéologie et liturgie (Publications d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art de l'Université Catholique de Louvain, vol. 69), 1988, p. 467, fig. 446
J. Bingen, "Sur quelques mosaïques inscrites d'Apamène", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, vol. 95, 1993, p. 123
D. Feissel, "L'épigraphie des mosaïques d'églises en Syrie et au Liban", Antiquité tardive, vol. 2, 1994, p. 288
J.-P. Rey-Coquais, "Mosaïques inscrites paléochrétiennes de la Syrie du Nord-Ouest, Syria, vol. 73, 1996, p. 105, inscr. no. 2ter