SigiDoc: Seal of the priests and the ekklesiekdikoi of Hagia Sophia

Medium: Original impression
Material: Lead
Shape: ―
Dimensions (mm): Diam. 45
Weight (g): 71,5
Channel orientation (clock): 12-6
Axis (clock): ―
Overstrike orientation (clock): ―
Execution: ―
Countermark: ―
Condition: The blank is of exceptional size and weight, as with all the ekklesiekdikoi seals, but it was still too small; indented at the orifi ces of the channel; crushed around the reverse; beautiful engraving.

Category: Secular Church
Issuer: priests and ekklesiekdikoi
Milieu: Secular Church
Gender: Male
Place of origin: ―
Find place: Annaea (Söke)
Find date: ―
Find circumstances: ―
Modern location: Izmir (Turkey)
Institution and repository: ―
Collection and inventory: Yavuz Tatış collection 2387
Acquisition: ―
Previous locations: ―
Modern observations: ―

Language(s): Greek
Layout of field: Iconography with legend in columns
Field dimensions (mm): Diam. 71,5
Matrix: ―
Iconography: Scene with two full-length figures. To the left in the field, the Emperor Justinian, standing frontally on an oval souppedion bordered with pearls, presents the Virgin, to the right, a model of the church of Saint Sophia, in the centre. The unnimbed emperor, wearing a crown with pendilia, is clad in the right lôros decorated with pearl crosses, the flap of which, finished with fringes, rests on his raised left arm, supporting the edifice. The right hand is brought before the chest, half open in a gesture of adoration. The Virgin, standing on an oval base, looks out from the front, facing three quarters to the left, carrying the model on her two outstretched hands. The dome rests on three arches, supported by four columns, closed at mid-height by cloisonné panels, but the open royal portal reveals the patriarchal cross on the altar.
Decoration: Circle of pearls
Epigraphy: ―