Inscriptions identify the subject of this amulet as the Woman with the Issue of Blood (Mark 5:25–34; Luke 8:43–48). On the reverse a woman stands in the orant (prayer) pose. Hematite was believed to stop the flow of blood and was a favorite medium for amulets related to female reproductive health and menstrual problems.
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Obverse: Christ healing the woman with an issue of blood
Artwork Details
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Title:Amulet Carved in Intaglio (Incised)
Date:6th–7th century
Geography:Made in Byzantine Egypt
Culture:Byzantine (Egypt)
Medium:Hematite, silver mount
Dimensions:Overall: 1 15/16 x 1 7/16 x 3/8 in. (5 x 3.7 x 1 cm) Hematite: 1 7/8 x 1 7/16 x 3/8 in. (4.8 x 3.6 x 1 cm)
Classification:Lapidary Work-Hematite
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.491
Inscription: (commencing on the obverse and continuing on the reverse) is an abbreviation or variant of passage from Mark 5:25-34 relating to the miracle.
J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century," November 19, 1977–February 12, 1978.
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard Art Museums. "Byzantine Women and Their World," October 25, 2002–April 28, 2003.
Institut du Monde Arabe. "Chrêtiens d'Orient, 2000 ans d'histoire," September 26, 2017–January 14, 2018.
Institut du Monde Arabe. "Chrétiens d'Orient, 2000 ans d'histoire," September 26, 2017–January 14, 2018.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Africa & Byzantium," November 13, 2023–March 3, 2024.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 41.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 41.
Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979. no. 398, p. 440.
Stutzinger, Dagmar, ed. Spätantike und frühes Christentum. Frankfurt: Liebighaus Museum alter Plastik, 1983. no. 165, pp. 560–61.
Spier, Jeffrey. "Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes (1993). p. 44, fig. 6b.
Stonberg, Jacquelyn Tuerk. "An Early Byzantine Inscribed Amulet and Its Narratives." Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (1999). pp. 25–42, fig. 1, 2.
Kalavrezou, Ioli. Byzantine Women and their World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Art Museums, 2003. pp. 274, 283–284.
Les croix-reliquaires pectorales byzantines en bronze. Bibliothèque des cahiers archéologiques, Vol. 16. Paris: Picard, 2006. p. 71 n. 270.
Baert, Barbara, Liesbet Kusters, and Emma Sidgwick. "An Issue of Blood: The Healing of the Woman with the Haemorrhage (Mark 5.24B-34; Luke 8.42B-48; Matthew 9.19-22) in Early Medieval Visual Culture." Journal of Religion and Health 51, no. 3 (2012). fig. 11, pp. 674–76.
Knipp, David. "The Woman with the Blood Flow (Mark 5:24-34): Narrative, Iconic, and Anthropological Spaces." In Narrative and Symbol: The Early Christian Image of the Haemorrhoissa and the Mosaics in the Narthex of the Kariye Camii, edited by Barbara Baert. Leuven, BE: Peeters, 2014. pl. 2, pp. 146-147.
Schwartz, Ellen, ed. Oxford Handbook on Byzantine Art and Architecture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021. pp. 109–110.
Stonberg, Jacquelyn Tuerk. "Magic and Byzantine Art." In Oxford Handbook on Byzantine Art and Architecture, edited by Ellen Schwartz. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021. pp. 87–90, figs. 6.1, 6.2, pl. 3A.
Stonberg, Jacquelyn Tuerk. "Magical Amulets, Magical Thinking, and Semiotics in Early Byzantium." Old World: Journal of Ancient Africa and Eurasia 1 (2021). pp. 6–9, fig. 5–6.
Achi, Andrea. Africa and Byzantium. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023. fig. 11, pp. 49–51.
Baert, Barbara. "The Woman with the Blood Flow (Mark 5:24-34): Narrative, Iconic, and Anthropological Spaces." In General Introduction: Touching the Hem, edited by Barbara Baert. Leuven/Louvain, BE: Peeters, 2024. pl. 8, pp. 17-20.
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