Tetarteron of Alexios III c. 14th century

Curator: Before us is the Tetarteron of Alexios III, currently held at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It's quite small, and the details are difficult to discern. The metal looks worn, used. Curator: Indeed. The distortion of the planchet is deliberate, conforming to Byzantine aesthetics. Observe the figures, incised into the surface. There's a certain symbolic weight to their rendering. Editor: You can almost feel the hand of the craftsman, striking the die again and again. What sort of social hierarchies were at play in its production? Curator: A fascinating question, yet secondary to the formal qualities. The composition, although simple, presents a hierarchy of figures through their placement on the coin's surface. Editor: For me, the true value is in its history of use. It speaks to trade, labor, and the very tangible economics of the era. Curator: A perspective well-taken, but ultimately, the deliberate formal choices cannot be ignored. Editor: It’s intriguing how an object so small can hold such vastly different interpretations.