Icon, Contact Relic, Souvenir: The Virgin Eleousa Micromosaic Icon at The Met

Abstract

Among the glittering enamels, illuminated manuscripts, the ivories, and painted icons displayed in the Church Apse gallery in The Metropolitan Museum of Art sits the micromosaic icon of the Virgin Eleousa (Byzantine, early 1300s) (fig. 1). Measuring only 11.2 × 8.6 × 1.3 centimeters, the icon astonishes the viewer when hit by a moving, shimmering light, which makes the gold glitter, the background recede, and the Virgin and Child become threedimensional. Each tessera—many only a few millimeters wide—catches the light differently and the icon’s complex and fractured surface becomes captivating. The delicate chrysography on the robes of the Virgin and Child matches the tenderness with which the figures place their cheeks against each other, and the elongated fingers of the Virgin about to caress her son. On the