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/
Keywords
Yangät Mäsqäl