3-000-186 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Double-sided Icon with Scenes from the Life of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints, 18th century. This double-sided triptych icon from Ethiopia is a small-scale painting that would have been used in private devotion. The cylinder at the top of the piece reflects the construction of smaller Ethiopian icons that were suspended from a cord and worn around the neck. When open, the piece displays several images of key importance in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. On the front, arranged in two registers, are the Virgin and Child flanked by archangels (above centre), the Covenant of Mercy, where Christ appoints his mother as the intercessor for humankind (below center), Saint George (above, outer wing), and four saints (below, outer wing). On the reverse are the Crucifixion with three saints and the Archangel Michael (center), Kwer’ata Reesu, or Christ Wearing the Crown of Thorns (upper right, outer wing), and the Harrowing of Hell (lower right, outer wing). When closed, the exteriors of the wings display colourful painted crosses and an abstract geometric design of nested rectangles.