Ethiopian Crosses at Jacaranda Tribal

Jacaranda Tribal has just revealed a trio of beautiful Ethiopian crosses dating from the medieval period to around the beginning of the nineteenth century. These gorgeous ceremonial works represent some of eastern Africa's most iconic artistic heritage and one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world. Ethiopia was probably the second country after Armenia to embrace the Christian faith, and there is evidence that Christianity thrived in the country even in the first century AD. For most of Ethiopia's subsequent history, Orthodox Christianity has remained the state religion. Ethiopian crosses are coveted by collectors of medieval art, religious art and tribal art for their stunning beauty and fabulous variety of form.

For more details on these objects and many more, visit www.jacarandatribal.com

Processional cross  -  14th–15th century

Hand cross  -  1780–1830

Hand cross  -  Ca. 1700

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Ethiopian Processional Cross

In Ethiopia, the cross as a Christian symbol has been developed with more variety of form than anywhere else in the world. The first crosses known in Ethiopia were probably imported from early Christian Egypt around 400 A.D., but the motif eventually took on aesthetics not found elsewhere in Christian culture. This was due to familiar symbols such as the triangle, circle, and also the cross already being in use in pagan belief systems, as well as the special way in which the Abyssinian church absorbed the influences of both its Judaic roots and artistic ideas from Persia, Armenia, and the Islamic world.

This beautiful medieval cross, which is of the processional type, was exquisitely cast with rounded, echoing forms, and would have been held aloft as the finial of a staff or pike. A native repair has been made with the application of metal wire.

For more information on this object and many, many more, please visit us at:

www.JacarandaTribal.com

Metal, wire
13th–14th century
H: 8"
Collected by Joseph Knopfelmacher in Ethiopia in the 1970's