Neck Cross

Creator

Preview

Geography

Ethiopia, Africa

Culture

Ethiopian

Medium

Metal alloy

Dimensions

2 ³/₄ ✕ 1 ¹¹/₁₆ ✕ ¹/₈ in. (6.9 ✕ 4.3 ✕ 0.3 cm)

1.04 oz. (29.5 g)

Credit Line

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

Accession Number

2020.213

Provenance

Purchased by David P. Harris. Date, receipt, and supplemental documents are unavailable.

Condition

There is slight corrosion of the metal around the inscribed decoration on side 1 of the cross. Damage has partially obscured the decoration on upper end of vertical cross bar. Side 2 exhibits some minor abrasions.

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. 112–27, 149, cat. 28. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/

Description

This cross consists of a straight vertical bar intersected by a shorter horizontal bar. Incised onto side 1 is a single, repeating oval motif. Each oval-shaped swirl is composed of three elements: a central circle enclosed by two curved lines. There is no decoration on side 2.

Sarah Mathiesen, in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 149. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/