Neck Cross

Creator

Preview

Geography

Ethiopia, Africa

Culture

Ethiopian

Medium

Metal alloy

Dimensions

1 ¹/₂ ✕ ¹⁵/₁₆ ✕ ¹/₁₆ in. (3.8 ✕ 2.4 ✕ 0.2 cm)

0.33 oz. (9.3 g)

Credit Line

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

Accession Number

2020.36

Provenance

Purchased by David P. Harris from the Guthaim Gallery Inc. in New York on October 23, 1978.

Condition

Some patina on the incised decoration on the upper arm of the cross on side 1. Several small cracks in the same incised decoration on both sides of the upper arm.

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, 137–38, cat. 18. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/

Description

This cross is composed of a single piece of metal, with a vertical arm that is longer than the horizontal crossbar. Both sides display this same decoration of incised triangles on the short upper arm, and an incomplete, or worn, incised circle at the crossing.

Sarah Mathiesen, in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 137. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/