Statuette of a Girl Playing Rattles: 5th to 6th centuries AD
This copper-alloy figurine of a female dancer is waving long-handled rattles. Such rattles are one of the oldest forms of musical instrument known, with examples preserved from Egypt dating back five thousand years.
The figurine is an example of non-religious art, which was much more uncommon in Byzantine times than religious art. Dancers were regarded as immoral and of very low status, although this did not prevent the emperor Justinian from falling in love with and marrying one! This was the empress Theodora, who became one of the greatest of Byzantine empresses.
