Neck Cross

Creator

Preview

Geography

Ethiopia, Africa

Culture

Ethiopian

Medium

Metal alloy

Dimensions

1 ³/₄ ✕ 1 ¹/₁₆ ✕ ¹/₈ in. (4.4 ✕ 2.7 ✕ 0.3 cm)

0.62 oz. (17.6 g)

Credit Line

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

Accession Number

2020.32

Provenance

Purchased by David P. Harris from Christopher Martin (Portobello Galleries) in London on October 25, 1975.

Condition

Incised decoration on both sides of cross is obscured by aging of the metal.

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, 133, cat. 14. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/

Description

This cross retains a gold sheen over the incised decorative patterns on each side, as well as on the lower edges of the suspension loop. The gold-colored material indicates that this cross may have originally been gilded or was otherwise decorated to imitate gold. Whether real or imitation, the final visual effect was meant to be seen as gilding. This object then is the only gilded metal cross — neck, hand, or processional — in the catalog.

The vertical length of this cross is greater than the horizontal. The decoration on side 1 takes the form of an incised X-shaped interlace pattern with rounded edges that fills each arm of the cross (two on the lower arm) and, at its center, a circle around a design of radiate curved lines. Side 2 features a similar decorative schema. The incised patterns on the arms of this side, however, are cross-shaped quadrilobes with lancet-shaped projections at the corners.

Sarah Mathiesen, in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 133. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/