Preview
Geography
Ethiopia, Africa
Culture
Ethiopian
Medium
Brass with copper rivets
Dimensions
13 9/16 ✕ 8 5/16 ✕ 1 5/16 in. (34.5 ✕ 21.1 ✕ 3.4 cm)
24.34 oz. (690.0 g)
Credit Line
Bequest of David P. Harris ('46), 2020
Accession Number
2020.27
Provenance
Purchased by David P. Harris from Maria Teresa O’Leary (Nuevo Mundo) in Alexandria, Virginia on October 11, 1976.
Condition
The lower rivet connecting the cross to the shaft is slightly loose. The metal around the upper rivet on side 2 is partially lost. The shaft has been repaired multiple times; cracks and holes have been filled with a metal alloy of a different color.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
The left arm of the cross, on side 2, features a small engraved mark.
References
Brad Hostetler, and Lynn Jones, eds., Ethiopian Objects in the Blick-Harris Study Collection: Art, Context, and the Persistence of Form, Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): pp. 5–25, 67–75, 85–88, cat. 4. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/
Description
This processional cross is composed of four different brass pieces soldered or riveted together and fastened by copper pins: the large lozenge-shaped cross, two rectangular “handles” directly beneath it, and the shaft.
The lozenge-shaped cross features the same decoration on both sides. At the center is a cross with its arms and crossing articulated by a beaded outline. This cross is also marked by two intersecting hatched lines that suggest the depiction of rope that binds the vertical and horizontal arms together. The four ends of the cross are adorned with cross-shaped finials incised with lines and dots that form additional cross patterns. This central cross is encircled by a complex lattice-work of abstract bird forms that are organized in groups of three, and punctuated at the left, right, and upper points by a motif consisting of two birds flanking a cross.
The cone-shaped shaft is hollow, allowing for it to be placed on a pole and processed in the liturgy.
Lynn Jones, in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 85. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/