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| Name: |
Venice - Italy, Doge Ranier Zeno (1253-1268 A.D.), AR grosso matapan (20 mm, 2.09 g) Christ Enthroned VF |
| Description: |
Venice - Italy, Doge Ranier Zeno (1253-1268 A.D.), AR grosso matapan (20 mm, 2.09 g)
Christ Enthroned VF
Obv: RA CENO SM VENETI DVX, Doge (governor) stands facing receiving
banner from patron saint St. Mark; the word DVX is to the immediate right of Zeno and it
is going down vertically along with the banner.Rev: facing figure of Nimbate Jesus Christ
Pantocrator, enthroned, IC XC field to the left and right. Pellet bellow left
elbow.
Detailed description obverse/reverse:
Obverse: The bare-headed ruler with a beard
and moustache is dressed in a robe decorated with precious gems or pearls in two vertical
rows, holding in his left hand a scroll (akakia) and with his right hand he receives a
banner from St. Mark. The saint with beard and moustache and a granulated nimbus
encircling his head, dressed in usual sticharia and a short mantle, holds in his left hand
on his chest the Gospels decorated with five gems, and with his right hand extends a royal
standard - banner.
Reverse: Christ with a granulated nimbus encircling his head in the
usual robe (hiton) and mantle (himation) is seated on a throne with a high back support.
With both hands he holds on his left knee the Gospels ornamented with five precious
stones. Initials IC-XC at the height of his head.
More information about this type of
coins:
The central design on this coin's obverse features the facing figure of Christ
Pantocrator (Christ enthroned as ruler of all), a motif copied from Byzantine coinage and
maintained to this day in Russian Orthodox art. Christ's hair is long with a center
parting. He has a beard and a mustache and is enthroned on a broad, square-backed,
upholstered seat which has a frame embellished with patterns of pellets. He wears a tunic
(simple slip-on garment belted at the waist) and himation (rectangular cloth draped over
the left shoulder and about the body) and has a voided cross nimbus (outlined cross within
a halo) behind his head. His right hand rests in the fold of his vestment, and his left
hand supports a book of the gospel (the ornamented reliquary cover of which has a pattern
of five pellets). His right leg is inclined to the left and his feet are bare. He is
flanked by the legend IC -- XC (Greek abbreviation for Jesus Christ). In all of these
details, this coin copies Byzantine gold histamenons minted in Constantinople two
centuries previously. On the reverse is the doge (duke in English, dux in Latin) stands
facing with Saint Mark, the patron of Venice. They grasp a pole between them, at the top
of which flies a banner displaying a cross. Both have beards and mustaches. The locks of
Zeno's shoulder-length hair cover his ears. He wears a loros (a richly ornamented robe)
and holds an akakia (a short cylinder with jeweled ends and containing dust, first carried
by Byzantine rulers in public processions and intended to remind the ruler that even he
was mortal). Pellets on Saint Mark's right breast form a cross, and he is holding a book
of the gospel. A halo frames his head, and his hair is cropped above his ears and shaved
on top of his head in a monk's tonsure. The legend reads, RA(nieri) . CENO . S(an) .
M(arco) . VENETI. To the immediate right of Zeno is his title, DVX (doge).
NUMISMATIC
NOTES: Introduced around 1202 (to fund preparations for the grand and infamous Fourth
Crusade that eventually sacked Constantinople) by the mighty doge Enrico Dandolo and
backed by the Republic's thriving economic power, this type of coin remained for well over
a century the DOLLAR of Southeastern European economy. Although almost all of its design
elements are of Byzantine origin - including the iconic image of a facing enthroned Christ
with the Greek inscription "IC XC" (for Jesus Christ) on its reverse - their
particular combination in this silver coin of stable and strictly controlled weight and
purity lasted for over 150 years (with variations in doge only) and became associated
strictly with Venice. As such, through imitations and forgeries, it influenced many
Eastern Mediterranean coinages, including the first systematic series of Serbian medieval
coins. |
| Price: |
US$ 80.00 (2007-04-24) |
| Original page: |
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/ane/store/
viewItem.asp?idProduct=176
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