Browse Items (68 total)

Pictured here is a page out of the famous Blue Quran, which is dispersed all around the world and which the Harvard Art Museum is lucky to have a fragment of. The gold text is also in the Kufic style.

This folio comes from a Quran in the Eastern Kufic style. Notice the emphasis on vertical rather than horizontal elongation.

This folio comes from another Kufic Quran. Notice the abundant red dots and black tick marks indicating vowels, and the odd diagonal slant of the text as a whole.

This is a fourteenth-century panel painting by Lippo Memmi of Siena. It formed part of an altarpiece that was located in the church of San Francesco in San Gimignano. It depicts St. Clare holding a lamp in one hand, which was her symbol.

This is a fourteenth-century panel painting by Maso di Banco of Florence. It formed the right side of an altarpiece that was located in a Franciscan church. It depicts the Franciscan St. Anthony staring at what would be the central panel of the…

This is a fourteenth-century panel painting by Bernardo Daddi of Florence. It is part of an altarpiece that was located in the northern Italian Cathedral of Prato. It depicts the Virgin Mary giving her girdle to St. Thomas.

This coin was produced between 498 and 518 C.E. and it is holed like the coin of Romanos IV (which came much later in the 11th century). Coins serving as amulets is not uncommon and we see this practice throughout the Middle Ages. On this coin, the…

This is an Early Byzantine struck bronze coin depicting emperor Justinian I holding the cross. Like countless other rulers, he justifies his power by posing himself with a holy object. This coin dates to the sixth century, so we know that the…

A 10th century Byzantine Lead Seal. On the obverse of the Seal is a male saint ( presumably St. Nestor) with head bowed and turned forward, a sword before him; he gestures toward a saint (presumably St. Demetrios), dressed in a robe, his right hand…