13^th Century Icons (2)

The first description of the processional icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria was given by N.P. Kondakov. He states that the revetments of gilded silver were worked according to an established pattern. Besides the floral ornaments, he mentions busts of St. Demitrius and St. George. Of the twelve compositions of the Great Festivals on the revetments he mentions only nine. He gives special mention to the Preparation of the Throne, which was commonly found, and also mentions the Mother of God Episcepsis Enthroned. This piece of plastic art has now disappeared from the Ohrid Icon Gallery. Discussing the compositions illustrating the Great Festivals, Kondakov considers that they were worked in imitation of the 11^th and 12^th century compositions. He suggests that the section with the Mother of God Episcepsis had earlier belonged to some other icon and that it originated from the 14^th or 15^th centuries. The Mother of God Hodegetria itself, however, dates from the 14^th century.

It should be emphasized here that research during conservation work on this icon showed that the revetment was affixed later and that it was not made according to the measurements of the icon. The well-known conservator Zdravko Blazik is of the opinion that the revetment was added “at the most 20 and at the least 15 years” after the icon was painted. His statement is supported by several technical and technological facts. Firstly, the background was gold plated, which indicates that during its painting there was no intention of affixing a metal revetment. Secondly, there are the descriptions written in red on the gold background concerning the Mother of God Hodegetria: MHPQV\HODHGH\TPIA, and Jesus Christ: IC XI. Thirdly, a layer of soot and dust was found covering the varnish which protected the tempera, which would have not been the case had the revetments been affixed immediately after the completion of the painting of the icon. However, these facts do not solve the important question of the age of the revetments, but only prove that they were mounted on the icon at later date.

Analysis of the revetments on the Mother of God Hodegetria supplies certain new information. Our research has shown that the metal revetments on the background and the frame were the work of a goldsmith’s workshop which produced metal plates in series especially designed for icon decoration. However, the Mother of God’s halo is a work of another craftsman and the infant Christ’s halo that of a third, while the plate with the composition of the Mother of God Episcepsis is certainly that of a fourth hand. The repousse inscriptions on the rectangular and circular plates: MHP QV, HODHGHTPIA IC XC, could be connected with the work of the goldsmith who made the halo of the infant Christ. All this indicates that the revetments of the Mother of God Hodegetria are the result of the montage of different parts, so that it cannot be said that they are product of one goldsmith’s workshop. The craftsman who was entrusted with the mounting of the revetments was unfamiliar with the system of linking the serially produced plates, and it can be concluded that the mounting was extremely unskillful. However, the serial produced plates of the revetments of this icon certainly show a high level of knowledge of the technology and technique of this work, which suggests first-rate goldsmith’s which were in our opinion able to produce great quantities of gilded silver plates. The practical value of these was that they could be transported easily and over great distances, and simply mounted on any icon.

Stylistic analysis of these serially produced revetments, the iconography of the numerous compositions, the richness of the motifs in the floral and geometrical ornamentation, the technological characteristics and the high level of workmanship all speak of the work of the Constantinopolitian goldsmiths workshops of the 12^th century. Kondakov further pointed out a similarity between the style of these revetments and those of the 11^th and 12^th centuries. Accordingly, we can assume that this icon could have belonged to some older Ohrid icon which existed until the middle of the 14^th century when, because of damage to the layer of paint and the rotting of the wood, the revetments were removed and mounted on the processional icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria. Due to the fact that this older Ohrid icon did not have metal haloes which would fit the Mother of God and the infant Christ, they were supplied with metal haloes from other icons. However, in order to fit the halo of the Mother of God Hodegetria it had to be shortened at both ends. In view of the fact that a halo was not found which would have matched the line of the infant Christ, one must have been commissioned from one of the local Ohrid goldsmiths. Analysis of the halo of the infant Christ shows that in the motifs used and in style and technical execution it is similar to the well-known Ohrid icon of the Mother of God with Christ which is considered to have been made under Western (Italian) influence in the middle of the 14^th century. Consequently the revetments of the processional icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, as has already been said, cannot be considered as the work of one man or of one workshop. It is our view that it was made of parts in a longer period of time from the beginning of the 12^th to the middle of the 14^th century, when the mounting of this precious processional icon was carried out.

In the churches of Ohrid there were icons and other objects worked in varying materials. We consider, however, that one object deserves particular attention. The object in question is a part of a metal thurible on whose circular surface the Annunciation is worked in repousse.

We discover this central part of the thurible in 1962, in the lignite store in the church of St. George in the Vlach quarter of Ohrid, where it had been used for many years as a coal shovel.

The central part of the thurible – the other two parts of which, consisting of a handle and incense disappeared at an unknown date- is made of two thin hammered copper plates of different thickness. The plates are fastened together with decorative rivets, also made of copper. The thurible, or rather the central part of it, has a slightly elongated horse-shoe shape with an elliptical end to its longer side. Its dimensions are 26.3 x 19.8 cm and its weight is 1.202 gr. The edges are decorated with a playful line of horse-shoe shape incisions between which there are extrusions with two teeth apiece at their extremities and a semi-circular end. While the lower plate is smooth, the upper one is worked in relief. The larger part of this as a round medallion with 12mm frame, the height of the relief on the frame being 8mm. In this medallion, diameter 13.7cm, worked in shallow relief and engraved with a sharp instrument, is the composition of the Annunciation. On the right, on the rectangular base, the Mother of God stands with head slightly inclined. She is dressed in a chiton and a maphorion, which are indicated by basic lines. Her right hand is raised to the level of her breast, and the wide-spread fingers stress the gesture of surprise, while her left hand is held closely to her body. The face shows a young woman with a thoughtful expression.

The archangel is shown at the moment of descent, with wings relaxed and a rippling himation .With his right hand he gives a blessing while his left hand bends forward at waist height.

Above the haloes, in a irregular divided area, an engraved inscription is found: OXEPE/THCMOC/T/EOTO/KV. It should especially be stressed that in the space between the two figures of the Mother of God and the Archangel Gabriel there is a floral ornament which reaches the height of the figures. Behind the Mother of God there is an ornamentation of incised squares. The central part of the thurible, together with the Annunciation and, it may be assumed, the whole thurible including the handle and the concave vessel in which the incense was burned, was gold plated. The concave areas between the figures and the ornaments are filled with enamel in two colours; the upper surfaces, the areas which correspond to the sky, are covered with blue enamel while the lower part, the space that corresponds to the earth, is filled with enamel of pale olive green.

The thurible is relatively well-preserved. However, for a long time we were unable to find an object comparable to this, the one and only thurible of this type discovered to date in Macedonia.

In 1981, in Athens, an article was published in the journal ARHAIOLOGIA by the Romaoian scholar Laskarina Bura, entitled "PALAIOXRICTIAVIKA KAI BUZAVTIVA QUMIATURIA TOU MOUCEIOU MPEVAKH." In it the author gives a survey of several different types from the collection in the Benaki Museum in Athens.

She classifies the thuribles according to their form, workmanship and purpose into four groups. The fourth group is of special interest of us. In it there is a thurible where, in contrast to ours, the two most important integral elements have been preserved: the central part with a composition of Ss. Theodore and Demetrius, in full figure, and the concave vessel which served form holding incense (Inv. No. 11469).

The thuribles of the fourth category are certainly the richest variation, even though there are several different types among them in terms of shape, workmanship and decoration and, finally, of their materials and methods of production,

This type of thurible is considered to have appeared very early on. They are associated with funeral processions and the cult of the funeral and were in use as early as 4^th to 6^th centuries.

Later, in the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th centuries they were very widespread. There is mention of thuribles from Alexandria in Egypt which were distinguished by their fine form and rich decoration. The were skilled thurible-makers in other parts of the Romaoian Empire too, such as Cyprus.

That this type of richly-decorated thurible was in use on the Balkans is indicated by their depiction in fresco paintings in Serbia and Macedonia in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. Almost always there are connected with funeral processions. Thus in the composition of the Dormition of the Mother of God in mid-13^th century church at the monastery of Sopocani, one of the three archpriests portrayed above her catafalque holds such a thurible. The unknown painter took care over every detail in painting the thurible. Moreover, he was at pains to show that there is charcoal and incense in vessel, and painted the smoke of the burning incense. He also insisted on showing that there was a lid on the thurible, shown raised, which covered the part of the vessel on which in this type of thurible there was either a composition or particular saints were portrayed.

The painters Michael and Eutychios, working on the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God, the Holy Woman at the Sepulchre and the Entombment of St. George, in the church of St. George in the village of Staro Nagoricane (1317/18), painted just such thuribles. In the foreground of the Dormition, in the group of angels who are part of the procession, one of the angels holds such a thruible. It consists of a long handle, a richly decorated central part and an incense vessel. The thurible in the angel’s hands can be taken as one of the symbols indicating the death of the holy Mother of God.

The artist painted an identical one in the hands of one of the holy women at the sepulchre. In this case it is painted pointing downwards, which means that at this moment it is not serving its purpose since the dead Christ has risen. In any case, its role is to testify to Christ’s death. In the Entombment of St. George the painters Michael and Eutychios again paint the same thurible, the central part of which is ornamented. It is held above the open grave in which lies the body of St. George by one of those present who approaches from the right.

That such thuribles were in use in the 15^th century can also be concluded from an icon dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God with St. Dominic and St. Francis. Stylistically, the icon can be associated with the Italo-Greek school. Today it is in the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art in Moscow (inv. No. 266).

Here the case of painting at Sopocani is repeated. One of the three archpriests conducting the funeral service for the Mother of God bends over her catafalque holding a richly-decorated thurible over her body.

The examples given – and there are certainly more – show that this type of thurible, to which ours, the only known surviving example, belongs, was wide-spread in Macedonia as well. However, it was most probably brought from one of the well-known centres we have mentioned such as Alexandria or Cyprus.

The iconographic motif of the Annunciation on the thurible could be taken as commonplace if between the Mother of God and the Archangel Gabriel was not presented floral ornamentation, a kind of highly stylized palmette.

The presence of the palmette certainly requires special interpretation, particularly since such compositions are very rare in medieval icon and fresco-painting. Nevertheless, examples can be found in the wider circle of Romaoian art. One of the older examples that has come down to us dates from the 6^th century. The object in question is a diptych made of ivory showing scenes from the life of the Mother of God. One scene is connected with the iconographic motif of the Mother of God drinking the water of distortion, and the second with the Annunciation, between the Archangel Gabriel depicted on her left side, and The Mother of God, is depicted a tall vessel containing palmette.

The same iconographic motif is found on the well-known steatite icon discovered during the archaeological excavations in 1937 in Kherson in the Crimea. Between the Archangel Gabriel, shown on the right side, and the Mother of God, there is a large vessel with a leafy palmette. This icon dates from the 12^th century. In discussing the painting in the church of the Mother of God at Studenica, Professor S. Radojcic mentions the Annunciation, maintaining that this is a very interesting case. Between the Archangel Gabriel and the Mother of God there is an locked up garden (Lat. hortus conclusus), the symbol of the Mother of God. Professor Radojcic believes that this motif of an locked up garden does not appear in this form in Eastern iconography and that in the use of this symbol the proximity of the West can be felt. He cites the text regarding this motif: “You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride”.

It should be stressed that in medieval art in Macedonia, from the fourth group of the thuribles, according to the classification of Laskarina Bura of the thuribles in the Archaeological Museum in Athens, two have been discovered so far. One is the long since well-known thurible from the Monastery of St. Mark near Skopje, which belongs to one variety of this type, cast bronze, and the other is our thurible from the church of St. George in the Vlach Quarter in Ohrid.

The Ohrid thurible certainly belongs to the most prestigious type and is the only one to have been discovered in Macedonia.

Analysis of the Benaki Museum thurible an Athens (inv. No.11469) and ours indicates that they originate from the same artistic centre and workshop. The drawings engraved with a sharp tool and the handwriting of the inscriptions point to the thuribles having been the work of the same master-craftsman, although it is obvious that the Ohrid thurible belongs to more prestigious type.

The iconographic features such as the palmette in the Annunciation on the Ohrid thurible and the heraldic ornamentation on the shields held by Ss. Theodore and Demetrius on the thurible in the Benaki Museum prove that the workshop was located in a centre that had been strongly influenced by Western iconography. This could lead us to the region of the Mediterranean islands, amongst which Crete was undoubtedly the most important.

The dating of the Ohrid thurible could thus be linked to that of the Benaki thurible, which would mean that the two were made in the 13^th century, when such thuribles began to appear more frequently in frescoes as well, which was a reflection of their increased use in churches and monasteries.

Among the icons with a special purpose the diptych in the church of the Mother of God Peribleptos in Ohrid holds an important place.

On the upper surface of a deep double casket which terminates in a semi-circle there is a bust portrait of Jesus Christ. With His right hand He gives a blessing and His left He carries a thick closed book. He is dressed in a chiton striped with gold and a himation of burnt ochre. His face is serious and severe, His gaze fixed on the viewer.

On the other plate the Mother of God is shown, also waist-length, with arms raised and pointing to Christ. She is dressed in a maphorion of burnt ochre with gold stripes on the sleeve. Her face is that of a middle-aged woman with a dignified but sad expression.

The painting of the unknown master is the case too shows that the Comnenus tradition was still present in the second half of the 13^th century. This was the time of the start of a more obvious departure from the old patterns and of tendencies towards the formation of a new style which, somewhat later, was to have its first more complete result in the church of the Mother of God Peribleptos in Ohrid (1295). This was the beginning on Macedonian soil of a new era in painting known as the “Palaeologue renaissance”.

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Icons of Macedonia

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