Madonna and Child; Saint George Slaying the Dragon, Copy of Famous Icon ‘Kwerata Reesu'.
Name/Title
Madonna and Child and St. George Slaying the Dragon
Description
18th-c. Ethiopian manuscript page depicting the Madonna and Child on the left and St. George slaying a serpent on the right.
Artwork Details
Medium
Pigment, Vellum
Made/Created
Time Period
18th Century
Dimensions
Height
6-3/4 in
Width
9-1/4 in
Interpretative Labels
Label
Painted on parchment (prepared animal skin), these manuscript leaves come from a book of verses praising Mary. The illustrations depict St. George, patron saint of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Church, and the Virgin Mary and Christ Child. Characteristic of many Ethiopian manuscripts, the stained edges reveal their frequent handling. The text is written in Ge’ez, an ancient Semitic part of the Afro-Asiatic language family that is still used in Ethiopian churches. Amharic, one of the official secular languages of Ethiopia today, descends from Ge’ez.
To create manuscripts like this, artisans folded sheets of parchment into groupings called quires that were sewn together and bound as a codex, or book (note the four small holes at the centerfold). Once bound, the codex was inscribed and painted, with the pages usually alternating between text and image. The text in this example is not continuous between pages, indicating leaves are missing.
