ATHENS, GA.- Sacred Art, Secular Context: Objects of Art from the Byzantine Collection of Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., Accompanied by American Paintings from the Collection of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, an exhibition spotlighting pieces from the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in historic Georgetown, will be on display at the Georgia Museum of Art through November 6. This exhibition features 71 objects from the Byzantine Collection of Dumbarton Oaks, representing the imperial, ecclesiastical, and secular realms. The objects range from the fouth to the 15th century and include carved gems, jewels, golden and silver coins, steelyards with weights, silverware, and sculptural reliefs. More than one-half of the objects on display will be miniature in scale and crafted in gold, cloisonné enamel, and precious or semi-precious stones.

Sacred Art, Secular Context is named for the extraordinary contrast that is apparent in the exhibition. All of the objects feature sacred images or inscriptions, even though they functioned in the secular context of personal adornment, dining, and financial interactions at the marketplace.

The founders of Dumbarton Oaks — Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss — conveyed their estate to Harvard University in 1940. Apart from the works of Byzantine art, their donation included a Pre-Columbian collection, rare books on landscape architecture and the magnificent gardens that surround the estate designed by Beatrix Jones-Farrand. Since that time, the collection has more than doubled in size, thanks in large part to the continued support from the Bliss family. Presently, Dumbarton Oaks is the preeminent center of Byzantine studies in the world. In addition to the primary display of Byzantine objects, the exhibition also will feature 10 modern American paintings by Childe Hassam, Walter Gay, and Henry Golden Dearth. The Blisses acquired the paintings during the same time they were building their extensive Byzantine collection.

The University of Georgia has offered undergraduate and graduate courses in Byzantine art and architecture since 1999. Dr. Asen Kirin, an art history professor at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art is the curator of this exhibition. Kirin, who has twice been a fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, said it was “very natural” to bring this exhibition to the University of Georgia where hundreds of students have already studied Byzantine art.