Fish Gem (c. 250–350 CE): Art, History and Details

Fish Gem (c. 250–350 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

To avoid punishment, early Christians practiced their faith in secret. Images of fish were part of a code developed to refer to Jesus Christ. To those in the know, the Greek word for fish (ICHTHYS), was an acronym for the phrase Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter which translates as Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

Object facts

• Title: Fish Gem
• Date: c. 250–350 CE
• Culture: Syria(?) or Anatolia, early Christian
• Type: Glyptic
• Technique: rock crystal
• Dimensions: Overall: 3.5 x 7.5 cm (1 3/8 x 2 15/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Early Christian
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1954.592

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.