Icon
date: label: Date
content: Late 18th century
name: label: Maker
content: Ethiopian Orthodox
notes: label: Label Text
content: Certain features of this late18th-century icon recall and combine styles and symbols from earlier periods. St. George, for example, is slaying a serpent rather than a dragon, and Mary faces the viewer in a plain blue robe, the folds of which are depicted by a heavy linear overlay in a contrasting color. There are a number of significant iconographic details:
label: Label Text
content: Left panel
label: Label Text
content: top: Christ's Descent into Sheol (Underworld) saving Adam and Eve
label: Label Text
content: middle: Covenant of Mercy (Christ agreeing to save those souls that Mary requests--the reason for so many icons be donated to churches)
label: Label Text
content: Center panel
label: Label Text
content: top: Mary and the Christ child flanked by the archangels Michael and Gabriel
label: Label Text
content: bottom: 4 Saints including Abba Gabra Manfas Queddus with lion. His body is concealed by hair (popular saint with complete iconography not seen on other museum examples)
label: Label Text
content: Right panel
label: Label Text
content: top: Crucifixion with Mary and St. John the Evangelist
label: Label Text
content: center: Entombment (wrapped corpse--not seen on other museum icons, not as common a subject as in Western art)
label: Label Text
content: bottom: St.George and the dragon (serpent).
label: Description
content: Triptych icon featuring left panel: Christ Rescuing Adam and Eve from Purgatory, the Covenant of Mercy; central panel: the Virgin Mary and the Christ child flanked by archangels, four local saints; right panel: Crucifixion, Entombment, and equestrian St. George and the Dragon. The panels are held together by white string.
label: Content Statement
content: As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
label: Image Requests
content: High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
place: label: Geography
content: Ethiopia
topic: label: Topic
content: equestrian
label: Topic
content: mother and child
label: Topic
content: Writing
label: Topic
content: cross
label: Topic
content: horse
label: Topic
content: angel
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African Art Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Ciro R. Taddeo & family in memory of our sister, Mrs. Jean Taddeo-Ruiz of Brooklyn, New York
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2010-19-1
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Wood, paint
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 24.7 x 34.7 x 2.4 cm (9 3/4 x 13 11/16 x 15/16 in.)