Veneto

The paten presented here is an object with unique characteristics. The material it is made of, namely leather on a wooden support, is in fact extremely fragile, and it is one of the very few objects of this type that have survived through the centuries and reached us. In this regard, its excellent state of conservation deserves to be appropriately noted, which makes the paten even more precious. Furthermore, the model reproduced on the Eucharistic plate through the impression of a mold is also highly authoritative, being an oriental paten created by a workshop active at the Byzantine court.

The matrix used to impress our leather has a certain origin. In fact, it was certainly created in Byzantium, most likely by a workshop active at the imperial court between 1050 and 1190. This is demonstrated by another paten, in gilded silver, preserved at the Museum of the Treasury of the Cathedral of Halberstadt. The provenance of this last work is documented: on 16 August 1205 Konrad von Krosig, bishop of Halberstadt, returned to his episcopal see after having participated in the Fourth Crusade. Among the various objects he brought back home from Constantinople, there was also the paten now exhibited in the Cathedral Treasury Museum.

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