Name of Object:

Gospel cover of Dorotheos Proios from Edirne

Location:

Athens, Greece

Holding Institution:

Benaki Museum

 About Benaki Museum, Athens

Date of Object:

1816

Inventory Number:

34146

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Parcel guild silver

Dimensions:

27 cm

Description:

The gospel comes from Adrianople, but a handwritten note on the second page notes that: "…it was crafted and decorated here in Smyrna". From around the mid-eighteenth century Smyrna was the second most important port of the Ottoman Empire, and an important part of its economic life was in the hands of Greeks. The “Frankish quarter” and the preponderance of large-scale, foreign trade gave o cosmopolitan air to Smyrniot society. There is strong western European influence on this impressive silver cover made for Dorotheos Proios. Scrolled cartouches, thronging garlands of roses and conch shells in high relief make it a triumph of Rococo art, at least after the fashion in which it was understood in the Ottoman Empire. Smyrna was an important centre of silver production, but the designs were in general circulation and compositions were put together to fit the circumstances.

Type of Object

Metalwork

Citation of this web page:

Ballian 1992, 86-7, no.46 "Gospel cover of Dorotheos Proios from Edirne" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;gr;7;en

Prepared by: Ballian 1992, 86-7, no.46

MWNF Working Number: GR 007