This is without doubt the definitive monograph for anyone seeking the essential information on Byzantine bronze pendant cross-reliquaries (encolpia). In this work, which began as a Paris doctoral thesis, Brigitte Pitarakis describes and studies some 671 objects, dating from between the ninth and the twelfth centuries, quite a number previously unpublished. They are listed with accompanying photographs (or sketches in a very few cases) in the catalogue which forms part two of the publication. The crosses are now to be found in many different museums and collections, and the corpus collected here marks the culmination of patient and thorough work by the author. The discursive first part of the book (a little under 200 pages) focuses on the medium of bronze as representing a relatively cheap form of production, with some pieces cast from the same mould; a few silver niello and gold objects are included for comparative purposes. Discussion focuses on the production, date, provenance and place of manufacture of the objects; all these aspects are solidly researched and well documented. The commonest subjects for representation were the crucifixion and the Virgin Mary, but festival scenes and representations of a number of saints are also found. Some of the crosses have been discovered in archaeological contexts (tombs as well as habitations) and found still to have relics inside them. The main centre of production, Pitarakis suggests, was Constantinople but regional workshops were active too, usually copying what they had seen from the Byzantine capital. Some evidence is brought forward about the shops of Constantinople, but there might still be some debate possible about this conclusion. The crosses were worn by monks, pilgrims, soldiers and others, and their modern find spots are very widely disseminated through the Orthodox world. Their dating suggests, as Pitarakis argues, that their use flourished after the end of iconoclasm, no doubt as a way of advertising the orthodoxy of the iconophile wearer by the conspicuous display of holy figures. But she tracks various developments over the period, such as the new eleventh-century scheme of the Orant Virgin with Christ in front of her, which she interprets as a visual echo of the eucharistic rites. The argument is put forward in the book that these modest crosses offer an evocative insight into the spirituality of a broader class of medieval consumer, something different from the high art of the ‘usual suspects’. This takes us into the controversial and difficult area of the notion of popular art and popular religion in Byzantium, but she must be right in suggesting that these crosses should be included in a full consideration of the nature of medieval Orthodox society.