Byzantine Silk in the World

This is an art historical study of Byzantine silk from the sixth through to the eleventh century when the production of silk emerged as an imperial industry and became central to Byzantine courtly life and imperial diplomacy. Focusing on four focal pieces that are well known in scholarship, we lay out broader issues of manufacture, acquisition, circulation, and venerable practices of collecting Byzantine silk outside the territorial sway of the empire in church treasuries across Europe. Our focal silks serve as touchstones for understanding Byzantine silks as varied types of objects that were deliberately and meticulously designed for three-dimensional viewing. Perhaps more important, these focal pieces allow us to address issues of Byzantine, especially imperial, identity—from perspectives within the empire and without.