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| View Original: | Ethiopian_-_Double-sided_Diptych_with_Mary_at_Dabra_Metmaq_(Front);_Saints_(Back)_-_Walters_368_-_Closed_A.jpg (1769x1799) | |||
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| Keywords: Ethiopian - Double-sided Diptych with Mary at Dabra Metmaq (Front); Saints (Back) - Walters 368 - Closed A.jpg The small scale of this painting and its protective covers facilitated its use as a portable icon The hollow wooden cylinder attached to the body allowed the painting to be suspended from the owner's neck The practice of wearing icons of the Virgin as pendants is documented in written sources as early as the fifteenth century The main scene on this doubled-sided pendant commemorates the feast of Däbrä Metmaq According to the Miracles of Mary this feast was instituted to celebrate an event that occurred annually in the church of Dayr al-Magtas Egypt For five days each spring Mary miraculously appeared inside the cupola of the church bathed in light and surrounded by angels The main panel of this icon captures the visionary character of this event by enclosing the Virgin in a band of yellow light Seraphim surround the outer border of red The archangels Michael and Gabriel depicted on the inside cover evoke the heavenly hosts that accompanied the Virgin By representing the major figures the painter recreated the miraculous apparition in miniature for the pendant's owner As the Festival of Däbrä Metmaq was especially important to women and as the reverse of the pendant also bears the likenesses of two female martyr-saints the patron of this work might have been female The legend of the 15th-century saint Krestos Sämra describes how Christ bequeathed to her a painting which he hung pendant-like around her neck The delicately carved painted covers transformed the closed pendant into a cherished object of personal devotion late Other date century 17 Gondarine tempera panel H open 4 3/8 x W 10 1/8 in 11 11 x 25 7 cm ; H closed 4 3/8 x W 3 5/8 in 11 11 x 9 2 cm ; Panel cm 8 09 8 25 accession number 36 8 342 Robert and Nancy Nooter Collection Washington D C date and mode of acquisition unknown Nooter 20 11 Walters Art Museum 1996 by purchase Museum purchase with funds provided by the W Alton Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund 1996 Ethiopian Art at The Walters The Walters Art Gallery Baltimore 1996 Realms of Faith Medieval and Byzantine Art from the Walters Art Museum Frist Center for the Visual Arts Nashville 2001-2002 Realms of Faith Medieval and Byzantine Art from the Walters Art Museum Frist Center for the Visual Arts Nashville 2002-2005 Angels of Light Ethiopian Art from the Walters Art Museum Birmingham Museum of Art Birmingham; Smith College Museum of Art Northampton; Museum of Biblical Art New York 2006-2007 place of origin Gondar Ethiopia Walters Art Museum license 3D Art of Ethiopia in the Walters Art Museum Church paintings in Ethiopia Paintings in the Walters Art Museum Media contributed by the Walters Art Museum needs category review | ||||
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