‘For this is a trait of a rhetorical and double-tongued man’: artifice and ambiguity in Middle Byzantine art

The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg houses a group of small silver and silver-gilt vessels, thought to have been made in Byzantium and dated to the twelfth century. The vessels are decorated with engraved and relief images that predominantly, but not exclusively, refer to the world of secula...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Frentrop, Lara (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 03 Dec 2019
In: Word & image
Year: 2019, Volume: 35, Issue: 4, Pages: 367-379
ISSN:1943-2178
DOI:10.1080/02666286.2019.1580487
Online Access:Resolving-System, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2019.1580487
Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02666286.2019.1580487
Get full text
Author Notes:Lara Frentrop

MARC

LEADER 00000caa a2200000 c 4500
001 1919601228
003 DE-627
005 20250717000612.0
007 cr uuu---uuuuu
008 250312s2019 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c
024 7 |a 10.1080/02666286.2019.1580487  |2 doi 
035 |a (DE-627)1919601228 
035 |a (DE-599)KXP1919601228 
035 |a (OCoLC)1528020196 
040 |a DE-627  |b ger  |c DE-627  |e rda 
041 |a eng 
084 |a 46  |2 sdnb 
100 1 |a Frentrop, Lara  |d 1988-  |e VerfasserIn  |0 (DE-588)1338208438  |0 (DE-627)1898072302  |4 aut 
245 1 0 |a ‘For this is a trait of a rhetorical and double-tongued man’  |b artifice and ambiguity in Middle Byzantine art  |c Lara Frentrop 
264 1 |c 03 Dec 2019 
300 |b Illustrationen 
300 |a 13 
336 |a Text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a Computermedien  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a Online-Ressource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
500 |a Gesehen am 12.03.2025 
520 |a The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg houses a group of small silver and silver-gilt vessels, thought to have been made in Byzantium and dated to the twelfth century. The vessels are decorated with engraved and relief images that predominantly, but not exclusively, refer to the world of secular entertainments: a small vessel from Berezov bears around one hundred tightly stacked, small-scale images that show dancers, musicians, animals, and hybrids, whilst its inside displays a portrait of the warrior saint, St George; a shallow vessel from Vilgort is decorated with images of animals and hunting scenes on its outside, and on its inside bears a central roundel showing a couple surrounded by animals; and a bowl formerly in the collection of the Russian émigré Alexander Basilevsky shows twelve individual figures under arches, including dancers and musicians, on its outside and a pair of griffins on its inside. These three dishes, which will form the focus of this article, and their variegated images confront the viewer (and scholar) with a problem: how should the complex and often ambiguous imagery of the precious metal dishes be interpreted? Is a single, coherent meaning intended by their decoration, or is the latter a jumble of meaningless scenery? The clue to their interpretation can be found, as will be argued, in contemporary rhetorical strategies and performances. Riddles and ‘double-tonguedness’ prominently featured in twelfth-century rhetorical performances and works, and even, this is suggested, in material culture. Studying visual and rhetorical displays together can illuminate not only the interpretation of individual artworks, but also the broader relationship in medieval Byzantium between rhetoric and the visual arts. 
650 4 |a ambiguity 
650 4 |a Byzantine art 
650 4 |a performance 
650 4 |a rhetorical display 
773 0 8 |i Enthalten in  |t Word & image  |d London : Taylor & Francis, 1985  |g 35(2019), 4, Seite 367-379  |h Online-Ressource  |w (DE-627)357170970  |w (DE-600)2094453-6  |w (DE-576)30683068X  |x 1943-2178  |7 nnas  |a ‘For this is a trait of a rhetorical and double-tongued man’ artifice and ambiguity in Middle Byzantine art 
773 1 8 |g volume:35  |g year:2019  |g number:4  |g pages:367-379  |g extent:13  |a ‘For this is a trait of a rhetorical and double-tongued man’ artifice and ambiguity in Middle Byzantine art 
776 0 8 |i Erscheint auch als  |n Druck-Ausgabe  |a Frentrop, Lara, 1988 -   |t ‘For this is a trait of a rhetorical and double-tongued man’  |d 2019  |w (DE-627)1919601333 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2019.1580487  |x Resolving-System  |x Verlag  |z lizenzpflichtig  |3 Volltext 
856 4 0 |u https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02666286.2019.1580487  |x Verlag  |z lizenzpflichtig  |3 Volltext 
951 |a AR 
992 |a 20250312 
993 |a Article 
994 |a 2019 
998 |g 1338208438  |a Frentrop, Lara  |m 1338208438:Frentrop, Lara  |p 1  |x j  |y j 
999 |a KXP-PPN1919601228  |e 4686255503 
BIB |a Y 
SER |a journal 
JSO |a {"id":{"doi":["10.1080/02666286.2019.1580487"],"eki":["1919601228"]},"origin":[{"dateIssuedDisp":"03 Dec 2019","dateIssuedKey":"2019"}],"name":{"displayForm":["Lara Frentrop"]},"relHost":[{"physDesc":[{"extent":"Online-Ressource"}],"id":{"eki":["357170970"],"zdb":["2094453-6"],"issn":["1943-2178"]},"origin":[{"publisher":"Taylor & Francis","dateIssuedKey":"1985","dateIssuedDisp":"1985-","publisherPlace":"London"}],"titleAlt":[{"title":"Word and image"}],"part":{"year":"2019","pages":"367-379","issue":"4","volume":"35","text":"35(2019), 4, Seite 367-379","extent":"13"},"pubHistory":["1.1985 -"],"recId":"357170970","language":["eng"],"type":{"media":"Online-Ressource","bibl":"periodical"},"disp":"‘For this is a trait of a rhetorical and double-tongued man’ artifice and ambiguity in Middle Byzantine artWord & image","title":[{"title_sort":"Word & image","title":"Word & image","subtitle":"a journal of verbal, visual enquiry"}]}],"physDesc":[{"extent":"13 S.","noteIll":"Illustrationen"}],"title":[{"title_sort":"‘For this is a trait of a rhetorical and double-tongued man’","title":"‘For this is a trait of a rhetorical and double-tongued man’","subtitle":"artifice and ambiguity in Middle Byzantine art"}],"person":[{"role":"aut","roleDisplay":"VerfasserIn","display":"Frentrop, Lara","given":"Lara","family":"Frentrop"}],"recId":"1919601228","language":["eng"],"type":{"media":"Online-Ressource","bibl":"article-journal"},"note":["Gesehen am 12.03.2025"]} 
SRT |a FRENTROPLAFORTHISISA0320