Temple Pendant with Filigree Border | Kyivan Rus’ | The Metropolitan Museum of Art:
These temple pendants are decorated on one side with griffins, mythical creatures popular in Byzantine art, and on the other with interlace patterns that may relate to the Viking traditions of the Rus founders.
Title: Temple Pendant with Filigree Border
Date: 11th–12th century
Geography: Made in Kyiv, Ukraine
Culture: Kyivan Rus’
Medium: Silver, niello
Dimensions: Overall: 2 x 2 3/16 x 5/8 in. (5.1 x 5.5 x 1.6 cm)
Classification: Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.708
Kyiv Hoard of 1842 found near Desiatynna Church: how a Russian stole Ukraine’s National Treasure >
Ascribing griffins of Kyiv Rus to Byzantium or Viking influence, the Metropolitan Museum has overlooked another possible source – the Scythian iconography that is widely present in numerous Scythian Royal kurgans in the area of present-day Ukraine. The “Royal Scythia, Greece, Kyiv Rus” book describes several of such kurgans and takes an unorthodox perspective on the origin of the famous Rus dynasty whose treasures were found on the central Kyiv hill.
