This small reliquary with a sacred image was designed as a luxury object to be worn at the breast as a precious jewel.
This tiny enkolpion was intended to protect its owner both through its imagery and through the relic that it once contained. Pendants of this type—part jewelry, part reliquary, and part amulet—undoubtedly were considered luxury objects because of their materials and their exacting techniques of manufacture.
Enkolpion (Relic Container) with the Crucifixion (front) and Saints Theodore and George of Cappadocia (back) Byzantium, Constantinople, about 1080-1120
Silver gilt and cloisonné enamel
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1972.94
