Amulet of a Cross
Byzantine, 4th century or later
Medium
Glass
Dimensions
2 × 1.5 × 0.5 cm (7 × 9/16 × 3/16 in.)
Classification
ceramics
Department
Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
140828
Art Historical Context
This delicate glass amulet, crafted in the Byzantine world during the fourth century or later, takes the form of a cross measuring just two centimeters in height. Created as a portable devotional object, it reflects the growing prominence of Christian symbolism following the empire’s official adoption the faith. Such amulets were likely worn or carried for personal protection and spiritual comfort during a time when Christianity was spreading rapidly across the eastern Mediterranean. Glass was a favored medium for these intimate objects because it could be molded into intricate shapes while r...
About the Artist
Byzantine
"Byzantine" is the collective attribution given to anonymous artists working within the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, whose creations spanned from the 4th to the 15th centuries, primarily in Constantinople and its cultural sphere. These masters produced a vast body of art that defined an era, with museums like the Walters Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago cataloging numerous works un...