centred with a yellow gold circular reserve with rope-twist border containing the cypher of Pope Pascal I (d.824) outlined in gold wire and carried out in blue and white glass tesserae, the mosaic flanked either side by a gold horizontal flattened bar-shaped mount heavily bound in gold.
Illustrated
No.36b (pg 35) in ‘From Function to Fantasy, The Brooch: From 1200 BCE to the Contemporary (London, 2025).
The cypher is derived from a mosaic roundel on the apse and arch above the altar in the Basilica of Santa Prassede all’Esquilino in Rome and echoes its blue and white palette. The inscription that accompanies the original mosaic reveals that it was Pope Pascal’s hope that he would be secured a place in Heaven for the work he had undertaken during his lifetime. This had consisted in the commissioning of the rebuilding of three basilicas in the city including Santa Prassede in c.822. Not only does the Pope’s cypher feature there but also a life-like mosaic portraying him holding the church itself; he was buried there in 824.
The robustness of the mount of this jewel deliberately reflect the functional aspect of ancient prototypes, and is constructed in a similar fashion, with the gold elements flanking the central reserve extending to the reverse to form the brooch fitting.