This circular pendant, crafted from silver and niello (a black alloy of sulfur mixed with copper, silver, or lead), depicts a mythical griffin outlined in black and surrounded by a series of braided arches within a filigree border. The pendant’s opposite side (not shown) features an intricate pattern of interlaced linear etchings. It was crafted in Kyiv sometime in the 11th–12th centuries C.E. and measures about 2.5 inches in diameter. Known as temple pendants, such pieces were commonly connected by a short chain to a diadem-like headdress—a practice well attested from the Byzantine Empire. Although formally beyond Byzantine rule, […]
