ABSTRACT The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg houses a group of small silver and silver-gilt vessels, thought to have been made in Byzantium and dated to the twelfth century. The vessels are decorated with engraved and relief images that predominantly, but not exclusively, refer to the world of secular entertainments: a small vessel from Berezov bears around one hundred tightly stacked, small-scale images that show dancers, musicians, animals, and hybrids, whilst its inside displays a portrait of the warrior saint, St George; a shallow vessel from Vilgort is decorated with images of animals and hunting scenes on its outside, and on its inside bears a central roundel showing a couple surrounded by animals; and a bowl formerly in the collection of the Russian émigré Alexander Basilevsky shows twelve individual figures under arches, including dancers and musicians, on its outside and a pair of griffins on its inside. These three dishes, which will form the focus of this article, and their variegated images confront the viewer (and scholar) with a problem: how should the complex and often ambiguous imagery of the precious metal dishes be interpreted? Is a single, coherent meaning intended by their decoration, or is the latter a jumble of meaningless scenery? The clue to their interpretation can be found, as will be argued, in contemporary rhetorical strategies and performances. Riddles and ‘double-tonguedness’ prominently featured in twelfth-century rhetorical performances and works, and even, this is suggested, in material culture. Studying visual and rhetorical displays together can illuminate not only the interpretation of individual artworks, but also the broader relationship in medieval Byzantium between rhetoric and the visual arts.

中文翻译：

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“因为这是一个修辞和双舌男人的特征”：拜占庭中期艺术中的技巧和含糊之处

摘要圣彼得堡国家冬宫博物馆（State Hermitage Museum）内藏着一批小型的银色和银色镀金船只，据信是在拜占庭制造的，其历史可追溯至十二世纪。器皿上装饰有雕刻和浮雕图像，主要但并非唯一地涉及世俗娱乐世界：来自别列佐夫的一艘小容器载有约一百个紧密堆叠的小图像，显示了舞者，音乐家，动物和杂种动物里面是圣乔治战士圣像的画像；Vilgort的浅水容器的外部装饰有动物和狩猎场景的图像，内部装有中央圆标，显示一对被动物包围的夫妇。还有一个以前是俄罗斯移民亚历山大·巴斯夫列夫斯基（Alexander Basilevsky）收藏的碗，上面放着十二个人形的拱门，里面包括舞者和音乐家，里面还有一对狮riff。这三个盘子将成为本文的重点，它们的杂色图像使观看者（和学者）面临一个问题：应该如何解释贵金属盘子的复杂且通常模棱两可的图像？它们的装饰是要表达单一，连贯的含义，还是仅仅是一堆毫无意义的风景？正如将要论证的那样，可以在当代修辞策略和表演中找到其解释的线索。谜语和“双舌”在十二世纪的修辞表演和作品中尤为突出，甚至在物质文化中也被提倡。一起研究视觉和修辞的展示不仅可以阐明单个艺术品的诠释，