The nineteenth-century discoveries of dozens of hoards filled with jewelry and other precious metal artifacts in the medieval, aristocratic section of Kiev has given us material objects from which to glean insight into the lives of elite Kievan women. A pair of jewelry known as kolti, or temporal pendants, are part of the Byzantine collection at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC. The distinctive gold enameled kolti have only been discovered in hoards in Kiev. Made in the eleventh to twelfth centuries, these large, luxurious precious metal ornaments adorned women of royalty or elite society in medieval Kievan Rus’ and would likely have been worn on very special occasions such as a wedding or coronation.

By closely examining a single pair of the cloisonné kolti uncovered from medieval Kievan Rus’ hoards, this thesis illustrates how the items were used by aristocratic women to capture attention and convey messages of royal membership, self-expression, piety, style, and wealth. Borrowing heavily from the opulent style of the Byzantine empire, Rus’ princesses harnessed ancient symbols, fine craftsmanship, and precious materials into a unique Rus’ form of expression that unquestionably displayed their societal role, wealth and importance.