Easter Sunday, 2024, Orthodox Church

 

 

From exhibitions at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24 on Ethiopic Art

and at the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24 on the links between Byzantium and Orthodox  Christianity in Africa

 

 

 

as below

 

 

The objects on exhibit are not ‘art’.  They are sacred objects; they are invested with agency. 

They sanctify the places where they are.

They provide sanctuary, instruction, and blessing to the faithful. 

They are repositories of the wisdom tradition of the civilization in which they were made. 

 

Their ‘artistic’ attributes including the details of the evolution of these attributes serve these purposes and are subordinate to them.  

 

We live in hope that consideration is being given to the return from foreign lands to Ethiopia of its sacred and historic objects.

 

——————-

 

 

The history of Christianity in Ethiopia is tied to the evolution of the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine empire and very closely tied to its development in Egypt.  This relationship is of almost 2000 years’ duration.

 

This period traversed the end of the Roman Empire, the transition from pre-Christian religious practices and beliefs to Christianity; and from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to this day.

 

The ‘Coptic’ (from the ancient Greek name for Egypt) Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria governed the church in Ethiopia and Eritrea until 1959.

 

 

 

Processional cross, 16th century, Eritrea or Ethiopia, copper alloy.

Brooklyn Museum, NY loan to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24

 

 

Ethiopia, under the aegis of the Egyptian Church, and a number of other churches outside of Africa, adhered only to the agreements of the first 3 of the 7 ecumenical councils which met under Roman and/or Byzantine aegis between 325 and 787. 

 

The break with the Roman (Catholic)  and with the Byzantine Orthodox churches came over a period of several hundred years. 

 

The Orthodox church in Ethiopia and Eritrea, along with those of Egypt and a number of other areas outside Africa are collectively referred to today as Oriental Orthodox Churches. 

 

————– 

 

 

 

Pendant cross, 15th century, Ethiopia or Eritrea, bronze

Private collection loan to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24

 

 

The coming of Christianity to Ethiopia 

 

The Axumite Empire in a part of present day Ethiopia, Eritrea and a part of Yemen existed from c. 150 to 960 CE.  Its capital was at Axum in the Ethiopian Highlands.

 

Christianity  was adopted c. 330 when the Axumite King, Ezana, became a Christian.

 

 

 

Processional cross, 14th or 15th century, copper alloy.  Ethiopia

Smithsonian African Art Museum, Washington, DC

 

 

The Axumites were allies and economic partners of the Byzantines until the the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in 1453.

 

The Axumite kingdom remained independent after the Arab Muslim conquest of North Africa in the seventh century. 

 

The kingdom to succeed the Axumites, the Zagwe dynasty , 900-1270,  based in Lasta, had fewer contacts with the Byzantine world. 

 

The complex of Lalibela churches of a style unknown in Byzantium and carved directly into the rock are a legacy of the Zagwe King Lalibela  (reigned 1204-1225).

 

In the 13th century, the emperor Yakuno Amlak (reigned 1270-85) expanded contacts with the world. He exchanged letters with the Byzantine emperor and facilitated the travels and trade of his subjects throughout Africa, the Mediterranean basin and the wider Byzantine empire.

 

He it was who formalized and grounded the practice of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ethiopia.

 

It was also he who founded the Solomonic Dynasty which survived until 1974.

 

One of his successors, the emperor Zera Yaqob (reigned 1434-1468) expanded the cult of Mary in the Ethiopian Church and instituted the ritual veneration of Marian icons. 

 

 

as below

 

 

Roman Catholic incursion bringing the motifs and styles of Roman Catholic art came with Jesuit missionaries who arrived in Ethiopia via her Red Sea ports in 1557.

 

Missionizing attempts by the Jesuits were strongly rebuffed by the Orthodox Church and the Jesuits were expelled from Ethiopia in 1632.  

 

It was the Emperor Fasilidas (reigned 1632-1667), making a  permanent capital in Gondar in the Ethiopian Highlands, who expelled the last of the Jesuits and restored the Orthodox Church. 

 

 

Processional cross, bronze, 13th century. Ethiopia.

Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa loan to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24

 

 

He and his successors became major patrons of architecture, crosses, icons, illuminated manuscripts and other sacred objects.

 

The Orthodox Church in Ethiopia and the temporal power remained in a strong embrace of mutual legitimation and support  until the overthrow of the Solomonic dynasty in 1974.

 

————

 

Most Ethiopian religious texts were translated from Greek, Coptic, or Arabic sources.  Initially, Greek was the language of the Axumite court because of the proximity of the Greek-speaking eastern Roman Empire.

 

 

Candlestick base, first half of 14th century, brass with silver inlay. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Inlaid metalwork dating to the Mamluk period (1250-1517) preserved in one of the monasteries in Lalibela, Ethiopia

 

 

The Ethiopians also adopted the script of Southern Arabia.  Classic Ethiopic (Ge’ez) developed from this.  It was used in ancient and early medieval Ethiopia and remains the liturgical language of the Church.

 

 

Wax and Gold X, acrylic on canvas, 2014

Wosene Worke Kosrof, American born Ethiopia 1950. Private collection loan to the Walters Museum of Art, Baltimore in 2023/24

 

This is an abstract rendering of Amharic script, the Semitic language spoken widely in Ethiopia and a derivative of Ge’ez, the liturgical language of the Church. 

The title – Wax and Gold – is a reference both to the lost wax metalworking tradition widespread in Ethiopia;

and to a form of poetry – ‘qene’ – originating in the 14th century Ethiopian Orthodox church and still taught by it:

a device to layer ambiguity (wax) into literary text to create multiple and subtle variations of meaning (gold).

 

 

——————–

 

 

The Cross

 

The cross and its multiplication in form and use is one of the indications of the long association of the Coptic and Ethiopian churches.

 

The first Axumite ruler to convert to Christianity, Ezana, issued coins showing the cross, the first such use in a monetary medium anywhere. 

 

One of the most famous of the Lalibela churches is in the shape of a cross.

 

 

St. George’s Church, Lalibela, Ethiopa

 One of 11 churches to be built entirely of volcanic stone.  Late 12th or early 13th century.  Photo from the net.

 

 

Crosses also figured in painting of many kinds on many kinds of materials; and in church carvings.

 

Ethiopian crosses are divided  functionally into three main types: the processional cross, the hand cross, and the pendant cross.

 

 

Processional crosses of brass alloy, cast; 15th, 18th and probably 20th centuries. Walters Art Museum and Dallas Museum of Art, TX

These crosses are carried, swathed with colourful and sacred textiles.

 

 

 

Processional Cross, 13th-14th century, bronze. Amhara or Tigre, Ethiopia.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

 

 

 

Processional cross, 12th-13th century, copper alloy.  Brooklyn Museum loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

 

Pendant Lalibela cross, 20th century, gold.

 

Possibly the most famous of Ethiopian crosses, the incorporation of bird and wing designs are often interpreted as a designation of spirituality.

This cross in its processional form is named, translated literally: it does not return to its home afraid (intimidated).

That is: Fearless Protector

 

 

 

 

 

———————-

 

 

Some exhibits from these two exhibitions in chronological order

 

 

 

Gospel Book with Adoration of the Magi and Shepherds, and the Virgin and Child Flanked by Archangels Michael and Gabriel, first half of the 16th century, ink and paint on parchment.

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

 

 

 

 

Triptych icon with the Virgin Mary and Christ Child Flanked by Archangels and Saints (center), Twelve Apostles and Saints (left), and Prophets and Saints (right); tempera on gesso-primed wood; mid-to late 15th century.

Fre Seyon, active 1445-1480, Ethiopia.  Institute of Ethiopian Studies loan to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24

 

 

 

Diptych with the Kiss of Christ to His Beloved John and the Nursing Virgin; possibly 1480-1500, tempera on wood, Ethiopia. 

Private collection loan to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24

 

The inscription next to Christ’s halo reads: ‘Picture of Our Lord, how he kissed his beloved John’.

On Christ’s lap is a book displaying the opening phrase of the Gospel of John: ‘In the beginning was the Word…’

Museum guidance is that John and his Gospel  became prominent in Ethiopian liturgy in the 14th century and the reference to Christ’s favour is found almost exclusively in 15th century  Ethiopian painting.

 

 

 

Diptych icon with St. George and the Virgin Eleousa, c. 1500, tempera and gold on wood.  Ethiopia, possibly Crete.

 

The Virgin Eleousa is the Virgin showing tenderness or mercy. 

Museum guidance is that this diptych was undoubtedly a response to an encouragement to Marian devotion by the Emperor Zera Yacob (reigned 1434-1468). 

The image of Saint George reflects local practice.  The right-hand panel reflects training in Italo-Cretan painting tradition.

 

 

 

 

Diptych with the Apostles and the Virgin and Child, c. 1480s-1520s, perhaps earlier; paint on wood; Ethiopia. 

Private collection loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

Museum guidance is that this image of the Virgin and Child combines local conventions such as reddish skin tones with the full-facedness for the Virgin associated with a Venetian-born painter active at the Ethiopian court.

 

 

 

 

Panel painting with the Crowned Nursing Virgin and the 12 Apostles, paint on wood; 2d half 15th century. Ethiopia.

Private collection loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2023/24

 

Museum guidance: 

‘First seen in the 1450s, the iconography of the Nursing Virgin became the main motif of Ethiopian panel paintings depicting Mary for several centuries…..

‘During this same period, the Crowned Virgin often also assumed the form of the Nursing Virgin, an aspect rare in many Christian traditions but well developed in Ethiopia and Egypt.’

 

 

 

Diptych leaf with Mary and Her Son and Archangels Michael and Gabriel, tempera on wood.

  Fra Seyon, active between 1445 and 1480. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

 

The museum notes that the artist transformed Byzantine and Italian models using Ethiopian colours and patterns.  Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

 

 

 

Diptych with St. George and the Virgin and Child, paint on wood, late 15th, first half 16th century

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art loan to the Metropolitan Museum, NY in 2023/24

 

Museum guidance is that panel paintings became widespread in Ethiopia only in the fifteenth century probably in response to the expansion of Mary’s cult championed by the emperor Zara Yaqob (1399–1468).

This diptych features  the Virgin and Child facing a mounted Saint George, who, according to contemporary texts, remains at the Virgin’s side when not carrying out a mission on her behalf

 

 

Folding Processional Icon in the Shape of a Fan, ink and paint on parchment, sinew and cotton thread, late 15th century. 

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

photo of an icon fan taken in the Ethiopian Highlands. ?Date

38 standing figures of saints, apostles, and prophets placed side by side and facing inward in pairs as though they are in conversation.

 

The two ends were attached to two wooden boards which when brought together and tied to each other becomes a pleated fan, an icon with the Virgin Mary at top. 

Formerly used in processions, only 6 are known to exist today; of which 5 remain in Ethiopia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triptych icon with the Crucifixion (center); Entombment and Guards at the Tomb (left); and Temptation in the Wilderness and the Resurrection of Christ; tempera on gesso-primed wood, late 16th century.  Ethiopia. 

Institute of Ethiopian Studies loan to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24

 

Museum guidance is that the painting style and dress may indicate Armenian influence or authorship or partial authorship of this work for its similarities to Armenian illuminated manuscripts.

 

 

 

Wall Painting with Saints Takle Haimanot and Ewostatwos, paint on canvas mounted on cotton; 2nd half 17th century, Gondar, Ethiopia.

Loaned by the Musee Quai Branly, Paris, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

Saint Takla Haymanot (died 1313?) and Saint Ewostatewos (c. 1273-1351) were the founding fathers of Ethiopian monastic traditions.

The museum addressed the colour palette and materials:

‘…similar to other wall paintings of the same period: vermilion,
sometimes mixed with black, for draperies and
clothing; orpiment for yellow; red lead for orange; and smalt for blue, following a recipe developed in Europe, implying long-distance international trade. Other organic materials may have been used that have since faded with time.’

 

 

 

 

Wall painting with a Priest of Heaven; paint on canvas mounted on cotton; 2nd half 17th century, Gondar, Ethiopia.

Loaned by the Musee Quai Branly, Paris, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

 

Museum guidance is this: 

‘This is an image of one of twenty-four “priests of heaven,” or Kahənatä sämay. The designation refers to the Elders of the Apocalypse, who, according to the teachings of the Ethiopian Church, fall under the category of angels.

‘Equipped with crowns and censers, they celebrate the divine liturgy, arrayed in a composition typical of the seventeenth century.

‘The cut of their garments and the cloth’s dotted, striped, or floral patterns reflect elite tastes for textiles and clothing imported from India and Turkey.’

 

 

 

A visitor to the Met’s galleries during this exhibition

 

 

 

Wall painting with Saint Sosenna (Susanna) and Her Persecutors; paint on canvas mounted on cotton; 2nd half 17th century, Gondar, Ethiopia.

Loaned by the Musee Quai Branly, Paris, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2023/24

The inscription at the top of the  painting says: “How the elders seized Susanna.”

 

 

 

Triptych with the Virgin and Child, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Saints, and Scenes from the Life of Christ; tempera on linen mounted on wood and bound with cord; late 17th century. 

Art Institute of Chicago loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2023/24

 

Museum guidance is that this triptych’s style suggests that an artist painted it in or around the royal capital Gondar. Below, twelve haloed apostles clutch small crosses.

The upper register of each wing carries scenes from the life of Christ: at left, the Harrowing of Hell, and at right, the Crucifixion and the Striking of the Head.

Egyptian and Ethiopian saints stand at lower right, while two saints on horseback ride along the bottom left panel.

 

 

 

Diptych icon with St. George and the Virgin Mary and Christ Child, tempera on gesso-primed wood, 17th century. Ethiopia. 

Loan from the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24

 

 

 

Icon triptych: Ewastetewos and Eight of His Disciples; late 17th century; wood, tempera cord.  Amhara peoples.

  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

Museum guidance: 

‘Ewostatewos was from a noble family and became a monk at a young age. He was exiled due to theological differences with the ruling kings, and spent many years in Egypt, Jerusalem, and, finally, Armenia.’

 

 

 

 

Diptych with ‘Striking of His Head’ on the left and the Deposition on the right;  wood, paint, leather and iron hinges (later addition;) after 1700. Ethiopia.

Loan from the Smithsonian Museum of African Art to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24

The Jesuits introduced imagery of Christ as the Man of Sorrows.  

 

 

 

 

Triptych icon with the Virgin Mary and Christ Child (center); the Crucifixion (left); and the Descent into Limbo (right); tempera on wood. 17th century. Ethiopia. 

The Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA loan to the Walters Museum in 2023/24

 

The Jesuits brought with them an image from Santa Maria Maggiore in which the Christ Child is resting on the Virgin’s left arm instead of her right; and showing the Virgin’s right hand with fingers pointing downward in blessing.

 

 

 

St. George Killing the Serpent, pigment on copper and gesso-covered wood panels, late 17th to early 18th centuries.  Ethiopia or India. 

Private collection loan to the Walters Art Museum in 2023/24

Executed in Mughal (1526-1857) style, this icon was found in Ethiopia and points to contacts between the two countries in which Jesuits were also active.

 

 

Triptych Icon with the Apparition of the Virgin Mary at Dayr-al-Magitas, 1740-1785; tempera on gesso-primed wood. Ethiopia.

Institute of Ethiopian Studies loan to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24

 

 

 

Last Supper, tempera on cotton or linen mounted on wood, 18th century, Ethiopia. (Fragment of a wall painting)

Loan to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2023/23

 

 

 

 

Double-sided diptych with Mary at Dabra Metmaq (Front); Saints (Back), glue tempera on panel. Ethiopia. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore from whose site these photos

 

Museum guidance is that this small, portable icon was designed to be suspended from the neck, a practice which was documented in the 15th century.

The images celebrate an annual five-day appearance of Mary, surrounded by light and accompanied by hosts of angels, inside the Church of Dayr al-Magitas in Egypt.

 

 

Triptych with Mary and Her Son Flanked by Archangels (center); Crucifixion and Resurrection, Apostles and Saints (right and left); late 17th, early 18th century, tempera on wood. Ethiopian

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

 

 

Archangel Raphael and the Miracle of the Sea Monster, glue tempera on overlapping canvas pieces, mid-19th century. Ethiopia.

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

 

 

Archangel Michael and Crossing of the Red Sea, glue tempera on overlapping canvas pieces; mid-19th century. Ethiopia

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

An image which originally flanked the entrance to the inner sanctuary of an Ethiopian church.

 

 

 

Magic scrolls

 

Christian and non-canonical magical beliefs and images are intertwined in Ethiopian Orthodoxy.

 

The use of magic to cure suffering from illness and misfortune and to lessen the effects of human curses is a common practice in Ethiopia and culturally accepted. 

 

Such magic involves the making and use of amulets to affect the work of harmful demons and to invoke the help of beneficial angels; and the involvement of certain constellations.

 

Talismanic images depict an invisible world.

 

The construction of these amulets, where and when they are to be worn or kept, and the recitation schedule of the talismanic prayers included by the person for whom they were made are strictly prescribed.

 

 

 

A visitor to the Met viewing magic scrolls

A visitor studying magic scrolls at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

 

 

 

detail of Magical scroll, 19th or 20th century; ink and parchment on paper.  Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

 

 

 

detail of Magical scroll with armed angel, 19th century; ink and paint parchment on paper.  Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

 

 

 

detail of Magical scroll with Lion of Judah,  19th  century; ink and paint on parchment on paper.  Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

 

 

 

detail of a Parchment with Talismanic Prayers and Greetings to Saint Gabra Manfas Qiddus.

Exhibited at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore 

 

 

 

A work by Gedewon, 1939-2000, Ethiopian; ink, lead pencil and graphite on paper

on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2013.  

 

The museum’s guidance was that Gedewon was born 100 kilometers east of Lake Tana and was an initiate not only of traditional healing techniques but also of the talismanic art which was a part of these.  He was also a professor of the poetic tradition called ‘qene’.

In the early 1970s, as Ethiopia entered a period of revolutionary turbulence, Gedewon began to draw talismanic art on a larger scale. 

These works incorporate the sign of the cross, calligraphic elements and human figures. 

They were intended to aid in the healing of the Ethiopian polity.

 

———————

 

 

The pre-Christian Sabean culture of  Ethiopia and Yemen; and other indigenous cultures;

the Hellenized culture of the late Roman Empire;

Judaism and Islam with which Ethiopia has very long-lived connections; 

trade exchanges with other African countries and with the countries of the Silk Road and India;

Byzantium and its area of control and influence over more than 1500 years;

Armenian sacred art;

Roman Catholic sacred art:

all of these were sources from which Ethiopian artists and artisans drew to create Ethiopia’s distinctive sacred art over hundreds of years.

 

This is evidence of an Ethiopia reflecting the world in the mirrors of her own world view through many centuries in the light of her Orthodox Christian faith.

 

——————–

 

 

 

 Senait and Nahom.  The Peacemaker and the Comforter, acrylic mirror, LED lights, hardboard, 2019.

Tsedaye Makonnen, American born 1984. Smithsonian National Museum of African Art loan to the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in 2023/24

 

Senait and her son Nahom were Eritreans who died in a European detention center.

Each segment of each light tower of crosses is named for a person seeking refuge in life-threatening circumstances.