Neck Cross

Creator

Preview

Geography

Ethiopia, Africa

Culture

Ethiopian

Medium

Bronze

Dimensions

Cross: 4 ¹⁵/₁₆ ✕ 3 ³/₈ ✕ ¹/₁₆ in. (12.5 ✕ 8.5 ✕ 0.2 cm)

Loop: 1 ⁹/₁₆ ✕ 1 ✕ ⁹/₁₆ in. (3.9 ✕ 2.5 ✕ 1.4 cm)

Projecting Elements: ³/₁₆ in. (0.5 cm)

1.70 oz. (48.3 g)

Credit Line

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

Accession Number

2020.30

Provenance

Purchased by David P. Harris from Christopher Martin (Portobello Galleries) in London in 1975.

Condition

Several of the applied projecting elements have been damaged. There is some patina on side 2.

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, 128–30, cat. 12. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/

Description

One of three hinged, multi-part neck crosses in the catalog (cats. 2020.40, 2020.47), this example is the only one with dark coloring, suggesting that it is made of bronze. The circular hinged segment at the upper end and connected to the suspension loop is decorated on side 1 with a protruding round boss encircled by four layers of dotted wire ornamentation. Below the hinge is a large cross with a long vertical axis. The lower arm of the cross features two large bosses, the other three arms feature a single, central, boss. Each boss is encircled by decorative wire ornamentation. A ball is attached to each interior corner of the cross; three triangular groupings of three circular globules project from the finials of the left, right, and lower arms. At the center of this side is a rectangle of unidentified transparent material, flanked by two small bosses.

This neck cross is one of the few in the catalog that features different decoration on each side. That on side 2 closely resembles that of side 1 on another neck cross (2020.45) — solid bars alternate with lines of circular dots along the length of each crossbar. The decoration on the vertical crossbar is continuous, thus bisecting that on the horizontal.

A distinctive aspect of this object is its decidedly three-dimensional, sculpted nature. When viewed in profile or at an angle, the six large circular bosses that decorate the arms and the suspension loop project outward from the body of the object, creating six distinct peaks.

Sarah Mathiesen, in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 128. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/