Medieval Gold and Glass Paste Necklace with Fishes and Crosses, 13th to 16th century CE
Gold, Glass Paste, Vitreous Enamel
LI.1004
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A stunning example of Medieval Necklace in Gold, finely decorated with fishes and crosses rendered in glass paste (vitreous enamel). The glass paste inlays were most probably meant to recall...
A stunning example of Medieval Necklace in Gold, finely decorated with fishes and crosses rendered in glass paste (vitreous enamel). The glass paste inlays were most probably meant to recall precious stones.
The fish has had a symbolic significance within Christianity since the second century CE. Within the Bible, fish are important in several stories, including the feeding of the five thousand, when Jesus is able to feed a large crowd of people using just five loaves of bread and two fish. Several of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen, and when he calls them to follow him he asks them to be ‘fishers of men’. The symbol of the fish was supposedly used by early Christians as a secret sign of identification, at a time when they faced persecution under the Roman Empire. The Ancient Greek word for fish, ἸΧΘΥΣ, was also used as an acronym for the Greek phrase Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ, which means ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour’.
The fish has had a symbolic significance within Christianity since the second century CE. Within the Bible, fish are important in several stories, including the feeding of the five thousand, when Jesus is able to feed a large crowd of people using just five loaves of bread and two fish. Several of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen, and when he calls them to follow him he asks them to be ‘fishers of men’. The symbol of the fish was supposedly used by early Christians as a secret sign of identification, at a time when they faced persecution under the Roman Empire. The Ancient Greek word for fish, ἸΧΘΥΣ, was also used as an acronym for the Greek phrase Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ, which means ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour’.