The objects in this gallery are unified in that they engage, or perhaps even disorient, the viewer with their dazzling or aromatic qualities. These effects would have elevated the objects and the architectural spaces in which they were housed to a spiritual place. Although they range from personal to public use and in religious or domestic settings, every item here is intended to provide an otherworldly experience.

Many Early Byzantine art objects and buildings can be grouped together under the umbrella of the “jeweled style.” This was a design philosophy that used motifs like colored stone, intricate carvings, golden mosaics, patterns, and lots of light to make the object or space feel transformative in its effect— much more than its unlit physical structure. The various censors and incense shovels in this gallery worked together to cloud an interior space with a mystic haze. Large windows from above allowed for beams of light to penetrate inside, while also illuminating the reflective surface of mosaics on the walls and ceilings. Choirs would sing, their songs resonating and bouncing off of curved interior walls. In all, these objects invited the activation of senses.

We have collected objects that are moments of these grand spaces, giving contemporary viewers an understanding into how religion, architecture, and everyday objects were deeply connected.

—Ethan Bisselberg & Casper McNew