5th century AD. A bronze steelyard weight filled with lead formed as the upper body of a Byzantine empress with jewelled tiered headdress, earrings, bead necklace, pleated palla or mantle; left hand holding a mappa as symbol of royal authority and right hand raised with two forefingers extended in a gesture of benison; underside with ferrous inclusions, possibly attachment studs for a bottom plate. See Weitzmann, K. (ed.) Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century, New York, 1979, no.328. 4.0 kg, 20cm (8"). From an important collection of Byzantine art, the private collection of a Dutch businessman; previously in a European collection formed before 1980. A very similar weight is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York under accession number 67.154.1. The choice of the image of the empress for an official weight may have been to display fairness and equality before the law in commercial matters, as well as to bolster the authority of the imperial family.