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Details
LOT 2216
Greek Wooden Icon with Christ 'O Elkomenos'
EARLY 19TH CENTURY A.D.
7 1/2 x 6 in. (303 grams, 19 x 15 cm).
Depicting Christ dressed in a long purple tunica talaris embroidered with long central vertical gold clavi (stripes) and appliques on the cuffs and around the neck; the dress fastened at the waist by a rope; crowned with thorns and holding an olive branch in his hand; Greek inscription 'Ο ΕΛΚOΜΕΝΟΣ' (= the One who came [in the Name of God]), on the background, and three letters inside the nimbus representing the continuous divine self-existence of Christ as God ('O ѾN' = The Only One who always exists); tempera on wood.
Provenance
Property of a London, UK, gentleman collector.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Literature
Cf. for a similar icon the icon of the Church of the Chains of Christ (Elkomenou Christou) in Monemvasia; for the Byzantine prototype of the Elkomenos, see the painting of Roustika Church of Virgin and Saviour, in Crete, in Spatharakis, I., Byzantine Wall-Paintings in Rhethymnon, Chortatzi & Rethymnon, 1998, p.37, fig.34.
Footnotes
Christ, bound and crowned with thorns, is here represented before his Crucifixion. The icon is intended to depict the humility of Christ, ready to be raised on the cross, bringing peace to the humanity (olive branch). The purple robe represents the royalty of Christ, who nevertheless, despite being King of the Universe, humbles himself for the salvation of mankind.
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Even after the fall of Constantinople, icons painted on wood remained the principal object of devotion for Orthodox Christians wherever the commonwealth of the Eastern Roman Empire left its traces. The painted icons are still used by the Orthodox for personal devotion, for display in churches on feast days, and to decorate the iconostasis (partition) of the church. This icon is a portable one, for domestic or travel prayers.
