Byzantine Reliquary Cross Pendant. 10th-11th century A.D. A bronze two-part enkolpion reliquary cross with hinge and suspension ring above; one face with low-relief Jesus in stavrosis position, dressed in loin cloth (perizonium), the other side with the Mother of God in orans pose. Cf. Pitarakis, B., Les Croix-Reliquaires Pectorales Byzantines en Bronze, Paris, 2006, item 125. 20 grams, 50 mm high (2 in.) German art market before 2000. With a European gentleman living in the UK. Property of a Surrey gentleman. The cross (enkolpion) is of type I in the Pitarakis classification. The iconography is that of the Crucifixion, from one side, and the Virgo Orans on the other side. However, the rarity of the type is given by the representation of the naked Christ, only covered by the loin cloth, different from the usual types representing him crucified and dressed in a long kolobion.