VISUAL THEOLOGY

Medallion with Saint Matthew from an Icon Frame, ca. 1100, Cloisonné enamel, gold Diam (8.3 cm) Mount: 20 1/2 x 15 x 7/8 in. (52.1 x 38.1 x 2.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) ■ These nine medallions are from a group of twelve that once surrounded an icon of the archangel Gabriel. The medallions may have been sent as a gift from the Byzantine court to the neighboring Christian state of Georgia. The three medallions across the top form a Deesis, with Christ between the Virgin and Saint John the Forerunner (the Baptist). Below is the hierarchy of the Church: apostles (Saints Peter and Paul), evangelists (Saints Matthew and Luke), theologians (Saint John the Theologian), and, across the base, military saints (Saint George) ■