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LOT 0374
Ethiopian Wooden Icon with Paintings of Saints
MID 17TH CENTURY A.D.
4 in. (91 grams, 10 cm high).
Carved portable icon with integral loop, frontal and rear recesses each with a door hinged with thread; painted scenes within of the Crucifixion and the meeting of Saint Abune Tekle Haimanot and Gabra Manfas Keddus (?), St. George attacking a dragon, Mary and Infant Jesus with angels Gabriel and Michael. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceReece Gallery, c. 2010.
Ex central London gallery.
See Chojnacki, S., 'Notes on Art in Ethiopia in the 16th Century: an Enquiry into the Unknown Author(s)' in Journal of Ethiopian Studies, Vol. 9, July 1971, No. 2 pp. 21-97, figs.14,28, for similar scenes in similar style; cf. also Heldman, M., Munro-Hay Stuart, C., African Zion, The sacred art of Ethiopia, Yale University Press, 1993, cat.11, for an icon in similar style, and p.7.
FootnotesA series of icons representing the Virgin of Santa Maria Maggiore were produced in Ethiopia in the 16th and 17th centuries; the icon offered here is one such example. Sitting on the left arm of his mother, Christ gives a blessing with his right hand and holds a book in his left hand, both details showing a close relationship with the Santa Maria Maggiore version.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0374
Ethiopian Wooden Icon with Paintings of Saints
Sold for (Inc. bp): £975
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Mixed Artefact Group
20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Comprising: a reproduction terracotta pillow-shaped tablet with cuneiform inscription; arrowhead; tri-facial seal; bronze ring. 47 grams total, 24-40 mm (159 grams total, 14 x 11.5 cm including case)
From a collection acquired from various auction houses in the UK. From the estate of Mr R.W., a private Wiltshire, UK, collector; thence by descent. -
Bactrian Style Lapis Lazuli Bead Necklace
20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Restrung with fish-shaped tabular beads and seed beads. 13.6 grams, 37.5 cm
Acquired on the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. Ex London, UK, gallery. -
William III Silver Love Token Group
1694-1702 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Group of three love tokens, each a sixpence coin bent into a double-curved profile; one pierced and with initials to each face. 7.45 grams total, 20 mm each
Acquired on the UK art market. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.
The custom of giving a bent coin as a love-token is known from the 17th century in England. The coins were usually smoothed to obliterate the monarch’s head and then bent twice; sometimes they were engraved with initials or symbols such as hearts or knots. If the sweetheart accepted the youth's advances, she kept the token; if not, she disposed of the coin. The tradition is referred to in the children's rhyme "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, he found a crooked sixpence on a crooked stile."
