I Tondi Di Venezia E Dumbarton Oaks / The Tondi in Venice and Dumbarton Oaks

For over a century the "portrait" of the Byzantine Emperor featured on two marble tondi in Venice and Washington, D.C., has been posing a challenge to scholars with its enigmatic silence: who is or are the Emperor depicted with his/their insignia and sumptuous attire? When and where were the two tondi created? Why were they brought to Venice, and why was one eventually transferred to Germany and then the United States? The essays collected in this volume address the numerous problems raised by these remarkable examples of official art by using a range of different methodologies, in an attempt to provide a new framework for their interpretation and new hypotheses supported by fresh data.