|
|
Cached data
| |
Image may be scaled down and subject to copyright |
| Name: |
Venice - Italy, Doge Jacopo Contarini (1275-1280 A.D.), AR grosso matapan (20 mm, 2.15 g) Christ Enthroned Near EF Attractive Dark Toning |
| Description: |
Venice - Italy, Doge Jacopo Contarini (1275-1280 A.D.), AR grosso matapan (20 mm, 2.15 g)
Christ Enthroned Near EF Attractive Dark Toning
Obv: IA CTARIN SM VENETI DVX, Doge (duke)
stands facing receiving banner from patron saint St. Mark; the word DVX is to the
immediate right of Contarini 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. Control mark - pellet under feet.
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 Contarini'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, IA(copo) . CTARIN . S(an) . M(arco) . VENETI. To the immediate
right of Contarini 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$ 105.00 (2007-04-24) |
| Original page: |
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/ane/store/
viewItem.asp?idProduct=182
|
|
