48-57

Comments on a relief slab at Mystra : contribution to the sculpture of Mystra

• Καββαδία-Σπονδύλη, Αριστέα

The marble relief set into the floor of the Metropolis at Mystra and bearing the representation of a double-headed eagle is believed to be a work of the late Palaeologan period and is dated to the 14th c.; its reuse in its present location is secondary. Within a rectangular panel a doubleheaded eagle is depicted with wings spread, feet apart and heads in profile; it is worked in high relief and bordered by a palmette shoot in low relief. The eagle type is derived from middle Byzantine models and has parallels with related representations of eagles in the late Byzantine period, chiefly at Arta and in northern Greece, especially Thessaloniki, and at Mystra itself. The border with the palmette shoot has close similarities with sculptures from Epirus, especially Arta, from Thessaloniki and the wider region of northern Greece, from Mystra and from Constantinople. The combination of techniques (high and low relief) and the pictorial rendering of the subject identify it as Palaeologan sculpture. Iconographie and stylistic comparisons show similarities and connections with groups of reliefs from the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th c., as well as similarities with works from the whole of the 14th c. The relief also has links with the sculptural «production» of Mystra, without fitting specifically into any particular group of reliefs from there. The chronological attribution does not conflict with the historical evidence for Mystra or with the persons who lived there.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)
• Sculpture
• Sculpture, Classical

Τη γλυπτική του Μυστρά μελετά και πρόκειται να δημοσιεύσει η υπογράφουσα, Πίνακες 18-20 βλέπε τέλος τεύχους, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες