234 | New Light on Old Glass The Mandylion icon from the monastery of San Bartolomeo degli Armeni in Genoa is encased within two bejewelled frames of di ferent dates (1601 and 1702), and a Palaiologan iligree and enamelled repoussé frame lined with a delicate Byzantine silk ( Pls 1–3). The Palaiologan frame circumscribes a three-pointed, dark face of Christ painted on wood, with a painted red cross on the verso. The object reveals an irresistible capacity to engage the viewer in an intense visual, tactile, even olfactory appreciation, which could function as an efective prelude to an intimate spiritual experience. 1 The most attractive part of this icon-relic is, undoubtedly, the Palaiologan frame with ten narrative plaques recalling the early story of the Mandylion before its arrival in Constantinople in ad 944 ( Pl. 4). This frame displays technical features that are – as far as is known – unique in the history of enamelling, speci ically multicoloured enamel placed in minute grooves on ten gilded, chiselled and repoussé narrative plaques that measure only approximately 42 x 42mm ( Pl. 5). The narrative displayed on the plaques is clari ied by tiny inscriptions in niello, based on various literary sources. For this paper, I wish to emphasize the experimentalism of this frame, which seems appropriate to the uniqueness of its central image, the Holy Face of Edessa, presented in the Christian tradition as the ‘true likeness’ of the living Christ, which required a unique framing. A unique kind of enamelling The kind of enamels to be found in Byzantine art have been classi ied in three categories: cloisonné, in other words Chapter 22 Borders of Experimentalism Glass in the Frame of the Genoa Mandylion Francesca Dell'Acqua Plate 1 Mandylion or Sacro Volto, monastery of San Bartolomeo degli Armeni, Genoa, panel painting with gilded silver, enamels and precious and semi-precious stones, 14th century (silver case 1601 and external bejewelled frame 1702), 400 x 295 x 30mm