Nomos 22

Eudocia & Michael VII, 1071. Seal or Bulla (Lead, 33 mm, 33.76 g, 11 h), made shortly after the great Byzantine defeat at the battle of Manzikert, Constantinople, 27 August - late 1071. IC-XC Christ Pantokrator seated facing on throne, wearing nimbus with one pellet in each arm, holding Book of Gospels in his left hand and raising his right in blessing. Rev. +MIXAYΛ S EYΔKIA ΒΑC P On the left, Michael VII, beardless, crowned and togate, holding out his right hand in supplication; on the right, his mother, Eudocia Makrembolitissa, crowned and togate, holding out her left hand in supplication; both standing facing and holding a plain patriarchal cross between them. Apparently unpublished and unknown. An important seal with great historical significance, apparently unique. Some uncleaned deposits, otherwise, good very fine.

The period during which this most exciting seal must have been issued was such a short one that can only have been used a very few times. Thus, it is probably one of the rarest of all Byzantine Imperial seals. One can only imagine how rare a Chrysoboulon of this period would be. The style of this seal is surprisingly close to the famous "Romanos Ivory" currently in Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Although a majority of modern scholars have assigned the ivory to Romanos II (959-963), there are some that suggest that, stylistically, it fits better in the second half of the 11th century and to the reign of Romanus IV Diogenes. In fact, this was long the general opinion of the scholarly community and it is likely that this new discovered seal can lend support to that old attribution.