Crafts and Makers: Byzantium
A ten‑minute journey through the imperial workshops, textile looms, pottery kilns, and scribal rooms that powered Byzantine art and daily life.
Chapters
- 0:07 The Imperial Workshops
- 1:07 Silk and Textiles
- 1:51 Ceramics and Pottery
- 3:00 Scribes and Illuminated Manuscripts
On-screen text
- 0:07 The Imperial Workshops
- 0:14 The Imperial Workshops
- 0:31 Justinian's imperial workshop created palace luxuries Historical record · Procopius, De Aedificiis (On Buildings), Book II
- 0:49 Stamped bowl names imperial silversmiths Historical record · Silver Bowl, Istanbul Archaeological Museum, 6th c.
- 0:58 Gold cross bears goldsmith’s signature Historical record · Gold and silver cross, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 7th c.
- 1:07 Silk and Textiles
- 1:24 Vertical 'kaman' loom dominated Byzantine weaving The Institute's interpretation · M. C. Miller, “Byzantine Textiles”, Dumbarton Oaks, 1999
- 1:51 Ceramics and Pottery
- 1:58 Ceramics and Pottery
- 2:15 Stamped tiles reveal palace ceramic workshops Historical record · Excavation of the Great Palace, Constantinople, 1935‑1940, tiles catalog
- 2:33 'Miletus' amphorae mass‑produced for trade The Institute's interpretation · J. M. R. Smith, “Byzantine Pottery of the 8th‑10th Centuries”, Oxford, 2005
- 2:51 Glass mosaics set by imperial glassworkers Historical record · Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, 10th c.
- 3:09 Imperial workshops mass‑produced post‑iconoclast icons Historical record · Theophanes Continuatus, 9th c., on the restoration of icons after Iconoclasm
Sources
Historical record: Procopius, De Aedificiis (On Buildings), Book II · Silver Bowl, Istanbul Archaeological Museum, 6th c. · Gold and silver cross, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 7th c. · Theophanes Continuatus, Chronography, 9th c. · Chludov Psalter, British Museum, 8th c. · Paris Psalter, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS lat. 938, 9th c. · Excavation of the Great Palace, Constantinople, 1935‑1940, tiles catalog · Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, 10th c. · Theophanes the Confessor, Chronographia, 9th c. · Theophanes Continuatus, 9th c., on the restoration of icons after Iconoclasm
The Institute's interpretation: A. Kazhdan, “Trade and Guilds in Byzantium”, Dumbarton Oaks, 1991 · M. C. Miller, “Byzantine Textiles”, Dumbarton Oaks, 1999 · J. M. R. Smith, “Byzantine Pottery of the 8th‑10th Centuries”, Oxford, 2005 · J. R. Ousterhout, “Byzantine Architecture and the Art of Ink”, 2012
Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 57 s of CPU.
Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (17) — the next things to make
- A curator lifts the cross, focusing on the tiny Greek inscription.
- A scribe copying a tax ledger, names of silver craftsmen highlighted in ink.
- A scribe copying a tax ledger, names of silver craftsmen highlighted in ink.
- Sogdian traders unloading silk rolls at the Bosphorus while Byzantine weavers prepare looms on the shore.
- Sogdian traders unloading silk rolls at the Bosphorus while Byzantine weavers prepare looms on the shore.
- Sogdian traders unloading silk rolls at the Bosphorus while Byzantine weavers prepare looms on the shore.
- Animated zoom into the miniature, highlighting the loom’s structure.
- A close‑up of a marginal illustration showing a goldsmith hammering a ring.
- Stacks of amphorae being loaded onto a ship at the Golden Horn.
- Monks in a dimly lit scriptorium, quills poised over parchment.
- Scribes and Illuminated Manuscripts: Illustrate the role of imperial scribal schools, their materials, and the spread of iconography.
- Monks in a dimly lit scriptorium, quills poised over parchment.
- Monks in a dimly lit scriptorium, quills poised over parchment.
- A Byzantine scholar testing ink on parchment, comparing shades of black.
- A Byzantine scholar testing ink on parchment, comparing shades of black.
- A close‑up of a marginal illustration showing a goldsmith hammering a ring.
- A close‑up of a marginal illustration showing a goldsmith hammering a ring.