Neck Cross

Creator

Preview

Geography

Ethiopia, Africa

Culture

Ethiopian

Medium

Metal alloy

Dimensions

2 ⁵/₈ ✕ 1 ¹³/₁₆ ✕ ¹/₃₂ in. (6.6 ✕ 4.6 ✕ 0.1 cm)

0.50 oz. (14.2 g)

Credit Line

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

Accession Number

2020.41

Provenance

Purchased by David P. Harris from the Endicott-Guthaim Gallery Inc. in New York on February 18, 1977.

Condition

Object shows considerable wear. Some patina of the metal is visible on both sides around the circular cutouts on the interior of the body of the cross.

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, 144, cat. 22. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/

Description

The form of this neck cross resembles that of a basilica-plan church with transept and chapels radiating from the apse. The semicircular upper end meets the suspension loop at the middle and has five radiating semicircular finials. Triangular points emanate from the inner corners of the cross, and each arm terminates in quatrefoils flanked by two circular finial disks. Only the lower arm has an additional pair of disks at the midpoint of each outer edge.

Incised decoration and perforations define the surface of this cross. The upper arm encloses a cross formed by the negative space created by the perforations in the metal. Side 1 features a grid of dots connected by incised straight lines with incised circles in the interstitial areas. The quatrefoils at the ends of the left, right, and lower arms are each decorated with an incised “X” across the middle and circles in each lobe. Side 2 is undecorated, or no longer retains its incised decoration. The only evidence of previous decoration is an incised “X” across the body of the lower quatrefoil. When this particular cross is suspended, and light is visible through the cutouts in the metal, it is apparent that the grid of dots were likely meant to be perforated; only some are fully punched out.

Sarah Mathiesen, in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 144. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/