Neck Cross

Creator

Preview

Geography

Ethiopia, Africa

Culture

Ethiopian

Medium

Metal alloy

Dimensions

Cross: 3 ⁷/₁₆ ✕ 1 ¹³/₁₆ ✕ ¹/₁₆ in. (8.7 ✕ 4.6 ✕ 0.2 cm)

Loop: 1 ⁵/₁₆ ✕ ¹³/₁₆ ✕ ⁵/₁₆ in. (3.3 ✕ 2.1 ✕ 0.8 cm)

0.70 oz. (19.7 g)

Credit Line

Bequest of David P. Harris ('46), 2020

Accession Number

2020.47

Provenance

Purchased by David P. Harris from the Guthaim Gallery Inc. in New York on August 15, 1977.

Condition

The cross and suspension loop are in good condition aside from some discoloration of the metal alloy. The surface metal on side 2 is beginning to pull away from the edges of the left and right arms, and displays some rippling on the lower arm. The upper arm on side 2 preserves a white elliptical sticker with “24,—” written on it.

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, 112–27, 147–48, cat. 26. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/

Description

One of three hinged, multi-part neck crosses in the catalog (2020.30, 2020.40), this example is composed of a triangular hinge with a suspension loop attached to a four-lobed cross. The lower arm is wider and longer than the other three. Rope-like, twisted wire decorates the face of the hinge and cross on side 1. Three concentric circles of wire fill the triangular hinge; concentric wire teardrops fill each lobe of the cross. Six circular bosses decorate side 1; they are placed at the center of the triangular hinge, on the four lobes, and at the crossing. Fourteen small circular disks are attached to the contours of the object: the hinge has four, the upper and left arms each have two, and the right and lower arms each have three. Side 2 lacks any decoration; the upper lobe of the cross is partially obscured by a price sticker.

Sarah Mathiesen, in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 147–48. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/