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Bowl with courtly scenes and mounted soldiers, called the

Ascension of Alexander the Great

Byzantine, 12th century. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, W-72


A larger image of this Byzantine bowl with the Ascension of Alexander the Great

Title: Bowl Showing the Ascension of Alexander the Great
Place of creation: Byzantium
Date: 12th century
Material: silver
Technique: chased, engraved and gilded
Dimensions: height 9.5 cm
Acquisition date: Entered the Hermitage in 1885; formerly in the A.P. Basilewski collection
Inventory Number: W-72
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, W-72

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A larger image of this Byzantine bowl with the Ascension of Alexander the Great

The scenes on the bowl from the former collection of A. P. Bazilevsky (fig. 83-103) are probably also inspired by the epic of Diginis Akritas. The combat between a mounted Greek spearman and a mounted Muslim archer, the duel of two unmounted warriors (perhaps a clash with robbers), two scenes of fighting lions (in the poem, Akritas fought lions on three occasions), representations of musicians and a dancing girl, the scene of hunting with trained snow leopards—all this is organically linked with the poem. Linked with it are two other compositions showing the ascension of Alexander the Great (in one case, in a basket drawn by gryphons; in another, astride a huge bird). In the poem, the great emir who was the hero’s father, is likened to “Alexander of Macedon”; the exploits of that “discoverer” of Asia were depicted in mosaic in Akritas’ palace.
Source: Plate 83, p.60, Darkevich, Svetskoe iskusstvo Vizantii: X-XIII veka, (Moscow 1975). [990MB]
Secular Art of Byzantium: X-XIII centuries.

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Bowl, with frieze depicting Heavenly flight of Alexander the Great, Samson, etc. 12th c.
Silver, gilding.
H. 9 cm. Dia. 13.8 cm.
1884-1885 in Coll. of A. P. Bazilevskii (Paris); acq. 1885.
Inv. no. [omega] 72.
Pub.: Isk Viz., 2, no. 553, pp. 87, 89.
Iskusstvo Vizantii v sobraniiakh SSSR. Katalog vystavki. 3 vols. (Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, 1977)
Source: State Hermitage Museum :: Byzantium. washington.edu

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A larger image of this Byzantine bowl with the Ascension of Alexander the Great

Source: Plate 84, p.61, Darkevich, Svetskoe iskusstvo Vizantii: X-XIII veka, (Moscow 1975). [990MB]
Secular Art of Byzantium: X-XIII centuries.

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p.57, ANNA BALLIAN, ANASTASIA DRANDAKI A Middle Byzantine silver treasure
Fig. 9. Bowl with courtly scenes and mounted soldiers from the Vasilevsky collection, 12th century. Saint Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum no. ω72 (after: Byzantium: An Oecumenical Empire [Athens 2002] 47 no. 7).

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Referenced as figure 233 in The military technology of classical Islam by D Nicolle
233. Inlaid metal dish, 12th century AD, Byzantine or Caucasian, Basilevsky Coll., Hermitage, Leningrad (Dar).