Lighting in Early Byzantium by Laskarina Bouras and Maria G. Parani
4to. pp. xiii, 118. profusely illustrated. bibliography. paperback (fine condition). Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, [2008].
Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection Publications series.
ISBN-10: 0884023176 / ISBN-13: 9780884023173
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This book stands alone as the first general survey of lighting in Byzantium. Although relatively well known by specialists, Byzantine lighting devices have not been treated independently, but rather presented and discussed in connection with other Byzantine minor arts. The first part of the book discusses the technology and types of lighting devices and explains their decorative symbolism and social function. The second half illustrates this narrative by drawing on a Dumbarton Oaks exhibition, “Lighting in Early Byzantium,” which presented to the public some of the finest surviving late Roman and early Byzantine lighting devices. Some of these are now published for the first time.