Details

LOT 0396

Ethiopian Wooden Bifacial Icon

LATE 17TH CENTURY A.D.

10 1/8 in. (455 grams, 25.7 cm).

One side with the Crucifixion scene, Virgin Mary and Saint John weeping at the foot of the cross, the soldier Longinus piercing the side of Jesus; the other side with a diptych painted on paper representing a crowned Saint George (Bet Gorgis) and his servant Seqrates dressed like a priest, watching the miracle of the transformation of water into wine; lines of Ge'ez text in black ink on the reverse; wooden frame with closure on both sides, surmounted by a small cross. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Ex Cy Lester, an antiquarian bookseller, London, UK, circa 1990.
Ex central London gallery.

Literature

See similar image of dressed Saint George in Walters Gallery, Ethiopian Manuscript W835, folio 37.

Footnotes

Among the imagery of Ethiopian equestrian saints, three main representational categories can be distinguished: 1) simple portrait of the saint armed with spear or lance and holding the reins of a horse; 2) the saint spearing an enemy; 3) the saint according to one of the aforementioned types placed in a narrative scene.