080126 UE Übung: Luxury Art in and from Byzantium: Ivory and Enamel in Context (2025S)

The arts designated, with an obsolete term, as "minor" were an integral component of medieval aesthetics, both in Europe and in the Byzantine world. This is evidenced not only by the variety of artifacts that still populate our museums, but also by the written sources that document their reception, meanings and modes of fruition.
The course aims to examine the production of precious objects in the Byzantine Mediterranean region between the 4th and 13th centuries. We will focus particularly on enameled ornaments and ivory carvings, two artistic media that enjoyed great popularity in Byzantium, whose products were also well received in the West. In this perspective, we will also investigate the channels of dissemination, reuse and recontextualization in both medieval and early modern times of objects whose appreciation over time can effectively be defined as "global".
The course will commence with an overview of the general problem, introducing the most representative examples, and exploring their technical, stylistic and typological aspects, as well as their relationship to monumental art. Students will then practice oral and written presentation skills on selected topics covered in the course.