Medallion with the Portrait of St. Kosmas

Place of OriginAncient Rome

DateLate 6th - early 7th century CE

DimensionsDiam: 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm)

MediumGlass; cast(?), ground glass with paint (tempera?)

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1923.1885

Not on View

DescriptionTransparent, decolorized glass with a light greenish gray tinge (5 GY 8/1). Three colors in painted decoration: black (near N), brown (near 5 YR 4/2), and reddish brown (between 10 R 5/4 and 10 R 4/6). Hinterglasmalerei. Rim chipped. Flat disk. Cold-painted bust of a man en face with a circular nimbus painted in opaque white outline. He is painted in dull black outline with brown hair and tunic and reddish brown drapery. An inscription is painted in black letters to the right and left of his head. To the left: DISCUSS WITH PRINTER; to the right: DISCUSS WITH PRINTER.

Exhibition HistoryThe Dayton Art Institute, The Roman World: Religions and Everyday Life (featuring the Brooklyn Museum exhbition: Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire), September 21, 2007- January 6, 2008 (no cat.).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, October 29, 2010-January 8, 2012.