THE GOOD SHEPHERD MEDALLION

by Laurence Fligny, Art Expert

ROME, 4th CENTURY A.D.

The Good Shepherd Medallion

A gold and blue glass medallion depicting Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd. Encased in a 19th century gilded metal stand.

Diameter 5,5 cm.

Provenance :
Estate of Parisian Academics.

Relevant Literature:
- Daniel Thomas Howells, “Making Late Antique Gold Glass”, New Light on Old Glass: Recent Research on Byzantine Mosaics and Glass, British Museum, 2013, p.112.
- Andrew Meek, “Gold Glass in Late Antiquity”, New Light on Old Glass: Recent Research on Byzantine Mosaics and Glass, British Museum, 2013, p.121.

More commonly known as "gold glass", this form of luxury glass is made by fusing a decorative design in gold leaf between two layers of glass. Originating in Hellenistic Greece, the production of gold glass took off during the late Roman Empire (3rd and 4th centuries A.D.). Only a few of these pieces of glass, which probably were part of cup or other decorated vessel bottoms, have survived to this day.

Some of these medallions have secular themes, such as two specimens depicting a couple that are kept in the collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. nr.. XIa 35 and 37). However, most of them have Christian themes – see for instance a 4th century fragment housed in the Louvre Museum which depicts Jonah and the Whale on a transparent background (inv. nr. S 2053) or another one depicting Virgin Mary at prayer surrounded by Saint Paul and Saint Peter, which can be admired in Stuttgart’s Landesmuseum Württemberg.

Our medallion presents an interesting interpretation of the Good Shepherd theme (John, 10:11) comparable to other early Christian depictions found on sarcophagi, frescoes, mosaics or sculptures. Its depiction of Jesus Christ as a young beardless shepherd, directly inspired by pictures of Apollo carrying a sheep across his shoulders, is precious evidence to early Christian artists borrowing from Pagan Roman imagery at the beginning of our era.