Byzantine Gold Expanding Cross Ornament Set. 6th-7th century AD. A sheet-gold ornament set composed of thirteen graduated openwork discs, each designed as an expanding arm cross within a circle decorated with repoussé dots, the body of the cross with scrollwork of varying designs, or with ring-and-dot motifs; each with a sheet-gold tube to the reverse for attachment; housed in a presentation case.See Wamser, HvL., Die Welt Von Byzanz Europas Osterliches Erbe, Germany, 2005, p.276, for a similar ornament in bronze, and p.306, for a comparable ornament in gold; see for crosses applied to the garments Bernacchia, R., Paroli, L., Profumo, M.C., Ricci, M., Staffa, A.R., La necropoli altomedievale di Castel Trosino. Bizantini e Longobardi nelle Marche, Ascoli Piceno, 1995, figs.187,227: Archäologischen Landesmuseum, Die Alamannen, Stuttgart, 1997.356 grams total including box, 11-36mm (box: 19 x 19cm) (1/2 - 1 1/2 (7 1/2 x 7 1/2)"). Property of a London gentleman; formerly in a 1980s London, UK, collection; accompanied by an archaeological report by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10646-174324.Gold dress ornament appliqués for noble ladies are commonly found in excavations, like the dress ornament (final part of a clavus) from Constantinople in the Walters Art Gallery (inv.5747), and another similar gold appliqué belt from Thessaloniki (Byzantine Museum"). Crosses were a very popular subject in the Roman Christian Empire, and also among the enemies of the Empire. Crosses for application to garments have been found in the Italo-Lombard necropolis of Castel Trosino (Bernacchia, Paroli, Profumo, Ricci, Staffa, 1995, pp.237, 280), a costume that the Lombards adopted from the local Roman population after they had settled in Italy. Analogue crosses were worn by the Alamannic noblewomen (Archäologischen Landesmuseum, 1997, figs.319, 510, 516"). Usually these Germanic crosses are characterised by holes on the arms for attachment to clothing, especially on funerary shrouds or headgears worn during the Holy Liturgy. In Byzantium these kind of ornaments were usually worn by aristocratic women on the wide collar worn around the neck of the tunic, the maniakion, and were part of the decoration of rich garments like the tunica talaris. [13]