Missorium of Theodosius I
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The missorium of Theodosius I is a large silver dish of pageantry preserved at Real Academia de Historia, in Madrid. Probably given in Constantinople to celebrate the decennalia (the tenth anniversary of the reign) of the emperor Theodosius I, it represents it giving a codicil to a senior official, flanked his two Co-emperors, Valentinian II and Arcadius. It is characteristic of the classical Theodosian style and considered as one of great art works of late Roman goldsmithery.
[edit] A commemorative pageantry dish
The missorium comes from a treasure of silverware, which also included 2 cuts, discovered in 1847 in Almendralejo, close to Mérida in the Spanish province of Badajoz. It is one of the most beautiful examples of silverware of imperial generosities, i.e. of the category of these luxury articles carried out for the imperial celebrations (accession with the throne, anniversary of reign mainly) and offered on these occasions by the emperor to the high-ranking dignitaries of the empire: they were mainly dishes, plates, cuts, and bowls silver.
The preserved corpus of this silverware of prestige is extremely reduced: only 19 parts survived of this important production (to be judged some by the sources) all dated from the 4th century and emitted by 6 different emperors. In this series, the missorium of Theodosius I is distinguished at the same time because it is most recent - although the practice probably continued still two centuries after him - and because it carries the most elaborate decoration: the two only other well preserved examples so much is not very comparable are the dish of Kerch, preserved at the Winter Palace and representative Constantius II in rider, and that of Valentinian I (or Valentinian II, the identification is unclear) in Geneva. It is necessary to add to it the fragment of the treasure of Groß Bodungen which probably carried the reason nearest to that of missorium of Theodosius I, but which is damaged too much to allow an identification or a precise dating.
The dish of Madrid east silver and presents traces of gilding on the letters. Its size is exceptional compared to the quoted contemporary money dishes: it measures 74 cm in diameter for a thickness which varies between 4 and 8 mm. It rests on a ring, of a diameter of 26 cm for a 3 cm thickness, which were welded with the back. This ring has a Greek inscription specifying the official weight of the object:
ποc ↑Ν ΜεΤ i.e. ποσότης λιτρῶν 50 μετάλλου (“50 metal books”)
The 50 books Romans correspond to an official weight of 16,13 kg of silver, whereas the dish actually makes only 15,35 kg of them: the difference could be due to the fact that the dish was weighed and marked before being decorated. The decoration, at the same time engraved and carried out with pushed back, would then have removed a little metal.
The principal reason for the decoration is the representation of the emperor reigning and two Co-reigning emperors. An inscription court along the edge which makes it possible to identify it with certainty:
D (ominus) NR (oster) THEODOSIVS PERPET (uus) AVG (ustus) OB DIEM FELICISSIMVM X
that is to say: “Our Perpetual Theodosius Lord Augustus for this very happy day of the tenth (anniversary of his reign).”
The inscription indicates that the dish was carried out at the time of the decennalia of an emperor named Théodose. The presence of two Co-regents makes it possible to exclude immediately that this Theodosius is Theodosius II, which had one Co-regent, his uncle Flavius Honorius, at the time of the tenth anniversary of his reign, celebrated into 412: they are thus the decennalia of Theodosius I, January 19 388, which was celebrated whereas the emperor resided at Thessaloniki - he remained there indeed from September 387 to April 388. One often concluded from it that the missorium was the work of a thessalonician workshop, but it is quite as probable, being given the completion date, that it was ordered and manufactured from Constantinople, before the departure of the court for Thessaloniki.
