Byzantine polychromy at its finest
Art, craft and aesthetics of the noblest Avar period jewel reconstructed
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21196306 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Eszter Horváth (0009-0007-4650-0392), László E Aradi (0000-0003-0276-3119), Zsolt Bendő (0009-0000-1195-916X), Tamás Váczi (0000-0003-0142-545X), Zsófia Rácz (0000-0001-5116-2235) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1866-9557 • E-ISSN: 1866-9565 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12520-025-02278-4 |
| OpenAlex | W4412190429 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 29 |
The richest Avar burial ever found in the Carpathian Basin was discovered more than fifty years ago at Kunszentmiklós-Kunbábony in Hungary. The prominence of the deceased is indicated by the grave goods, anthropological observations and recent archaeogenomic results. This article presents an integrated examination of the key artefact of the assemblage, an exceptional gold belt buckle that combines the highest quality of lapidary and goldsmith work with exotic, symbolic, and abstract elements of early Byzantine art. The scientific and stylistic analyses provide insights into the supply of the garnets, the metalworking and gem-cutting processes, and the artistic colour application at the time. Compensating the continuous deterioration of the buckle, a reconstruction of the original polychromy was made, reflecting its particular art, craft and aesthetic. The stone marquetry incorporated into the buckle is absolutely unique not only in the Carpathian Basin, but also in the late Antique, early Byzantine Europe and Mediterranean. As a forerunner of medieval commesso work, it represents a fusion of traditions from the classical West and the ancient Near East, as well as innovations later perfected in the Italian Renaissance. Surface and subsurface analyses were combined to specify garnet provenances, revealing further details of cultural connections
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Byzantine architecture · Craft · Geography · Visual arts · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Byzantine Studies and History · Classics · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History
Reverberations of Persepolis
Production perspectives of a high-status polychrome jewellery set from the Hunnic period (mid-5th century AD) Carpathian Basin
Gemstone and glass inlaid fine metalwork from the Carpathian Basin
Garnet Chemistry from the Slöinge Excavation, Halland and Additional Swedish and Danish Excavations—Comparisons with Garnet Occurring in a Rock Context
Der Schatzfund von Vrap in Albanien / Beiträge zur Archäologie der Awarenzeit im mittleren Donauraum
Le commerce des grenats à l’époque mérovingienne
Western Connections of Northeast Africa
Four millennia of garnet trade in Northeast Africa—chemical analysis of ancient and Late Antiquity beads from Lower Nubian sites
Garnet Trade in Early Medieval Europe
Roman glass
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |