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Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180)

 
 

Obverse

Half-length representation of a beardless Christ wearing a tunic and himation. Details indistinct. He has a nimbus cruciger; each arm contains a decoration. Inscription visible in column at right: [ Ἐμμα]νουήλ. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Virtually flat, but one can still see at left the remains of a circular inscription. Indeterminate border.

.....λδεσποτ,. . .

[Μανουὴ]λ δεσπότ(ης) [ πορφυρογέννητος]

 

Obverse

Half-length representation of a beardless Christ wearing a tunic and himation. Details indistinct. He has a nimbus cruciger; each arm contains a decoration. Inscription visible in column at right: [ Ἐμμα]νουήλ. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Virtually flat, but one can still see at left the remains of a circular inscription. Indeterminate border.

.....λδεσποτ,. . .

[Μανουὴ]λ δεσπότ(ης) [ πορφυρογέννητος]

 
Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1696
Diameter 33.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 93.6.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Μανουὴλ δεσπότης ὁ πορφυρογέννητος.

The emperor Manuel, born in the purple.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 6, Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda (Open in Zotero)