Details

LOT 0360

Mount Athos Wooden Cross with the Crucifixion and the Baptism

CIRCA 1669 A.D.

7 3/4 in. (93 grams, 19.5 cm).

Showing the Evangelists and the Crucifixion with Saint Mary, Saint John and Saint Longinos on one side with Greek inscription 'STAVROSIS (Η ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣΙΣ = the Crucifixion)' above; the Baptism on the other side with Greek inscription 'VANGELISMOU (Η ΒΑΝΓΕΛΙΣΜΟΥ = the Apparition)' above, evangelists depicted above and below with the angels Gabriel and Michael to the sides.

Provenance

Acquired from Portobello Road, London, in the 1980s.
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. similar cross with ornaments in the Dionisiou Monastery, in Pelekanidos, S.M., Christou, P.K., Mavropolos-Tsiumi, X., Kada, N., The Treasures of Mont Athos, Vol.I, Protaton, M. Dionisiou, M. Koutloumousiou, M. Xeropotamou, M. Gregoriou (in Greek), Athens, 1973, fig. p.43.

Footnotes

The term ‘Dodekaorton cross’ is the most appropriate for this category of crosses and is used in other codices of the post-Byzantine period. These small crosses were used by the Hieromonks for blessings to the faithful and in various processions and liturgies, and were often mounted with frames made of precious materials. The carving of wooden crosses is regarded as an art traditionally practiced by Athonite monks. Ioannis Komninos in 1698 and the Jesuit priest Braconnier in 1706 both refer to the carved wooden pectorals and crosses made by the monks in order to provide themselves with a livelihood.