Chi Rho Belt Buckle

[tyger]

I was honored when Matt Newsome asked me to make a Chi Rho design buckle. He has posted a picture where he is wearing the buckle, kilt, and sporran.

When I researched the Chi Rho, I drew two designs, and Matt instructed me to make this one:

Chi Rho, pewter on brass, 3.5 inches diameter



I thought about it for awhile, then decided that I should make the other design come to life, and see how it looked:

Chi Rho AO, brass on copper, 3.5 inches diameter



Of course, when I got the time I came back to the first design, and wondered how it would look with the yellow and red metals:

Chi Rho, brass on copper, 3.5 inches diameter



I am really pleased with how the white and yellow metal both show the elegant simplicity of this design.



The Chi Rho
[I]The Chi Rho is one of the earliest christograms. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ ( Greek : "Χριστός" ), chi = ch and rho = r, in such a way to produce the monogram ☧.

This symbol is widely believed to be the origin of the Celtic Cross, in the following manner: After the conversion of the Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 312, Christians widely, and now openly, used the Chi Rho. In 4th Century Romanised Britain, the Chi Rho was sometimes encircled by a triumphal wreath. Later in the 4th Century the chi (X) had been turned 45 degrees into a cross (+). By the end of the 4th Century, the rho(P) appeared looped as a shepherd's crook or bishop's crozier, and the wreath had become a simple circle. By the 6th century the crook disappeared, and thus the precursor to the Celtic cross had arrived.

(from Newsome, MacRobert, Wikipedia)