Octagonal Pendant (324–26 CE): Art, History and Details

Octagonal Pendant (324–26 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Mounted at the center of this octagonal pendant is a rare coin issued by Constantine the Great, the Roman Empire’s first Christian emperor. Constantine’s portrait appears on the coin’s front, those of two of his sons on the back. Constantine’s image is surrounded by male and female busts, some of which are mythological figures. The pendant once formed the centerpiece of a sumptuous gold necklace, likely a gift for a high-ranking court official or member of the imperial family.

Object facts

• Title: Octagonal Pendant
• Date: 324–26 CE
• Culture: Byzantium, Late Roman, Eastern Mediterranean, (probably Sirium or Nicomedia), Byzantine period
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Overall: 9.7 x 9.4 x 1.7 cm (3 13/16 x 3 11/16 x 11/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Byzantine
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1994.98.1

A detail from the museum

Precious Byzantine coins, such as the one in this pendant, were mounted as jewelry and bestowed upon court officials as a special honor. They signified loyalty to the emperor and were often passed down as family heirlooms. Does your family have special objects that have been preserved from generation to generation?

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Deppert-Lippitz, Barbara. "Late Roman Splendor: Jewelry from the Age of Constantine." Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 1 (1996): 30-71.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.

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.