Description
Gilt bronze
19¹⁄₄ × 15 in.
(With old restorations (riveted plates) and more recent restorations (copper wire))
We would like to thank Mr. Jacques Mercier, specialist in Ethiopian art history, for authoring this catalogue entry.
Jean-Jacques Rotthier Collection (1932–2009), Brussels, then by descent
The reign of Zär’a Ya‘eqob (1432–1468) witnessed the production of large processional crosses—either lozenge-shaped or cross pattée in form—that honored the Holy Cross by multiplying its image through an intricate network of repeated openwork motifs. The present cross represents one of the most sophisticated examples of this tradition.
A cross of identical form, cast by the same goldsmith using the lost-wax technique, remains in use at the Monastery of Saint Cyriacus on Lake Tana.
A nearly identical cross, bearing at its center the inscription “... in the days of King Zär’a Ya‘eqob ...”, is preserved at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (inv. 7118) in Addis Ababa.
Side 1, inscription: “The Cross of Zär'a Yohannes, who donated it to [the monastery of] Däbrä Mädhanit.”
Side 2, inscription: “May whoever steals it and whoever damages it be anathematized by the mouths of Peter and Paul.”
