Ref. 810

ANCIENT COPTIC “THEOTOKOS”.
JEWELED STYLE. MIDDLE OR UPPER EGYPT. BETWEEN ASSIUT AND THE SOHAG REGION.
BETWEEN THE V AND XII CENTURIES AD

Height: 39 cm (44 cm with the base)
Width: 15 cm
Depth: 12.5 cm

Wood sculpture of Sycamore, the sacred Egyptian tree.
It represents the Virgin, following the most primitive prototype of the “Theotokos” (Mother of God), understood as “Sedes Sapientae” (Throne of Wisdom). This iconography appears from the fifth century onwards in the art of the influence of the Byzantine Empire. The Virgin can be seen sitting, stiff and frontal, as the throne of her divine son.
It could have been carved in ancient times (V-VII centuries AD) without polychrome. Later, after receiving an attack by xylophages, it was stuccoed and polychrome (10th-12th centuries AD) in the Coptic style of Middle or Upper Egypt (“jeweled style”). There is a predominance of shrill green and red combined with yellow or white, typical of the central region of Egypt, between Assiut and Sohag, with many similarities to the art of the monastery of Saint Apollo in Bawit, in ruins since the 10th-11th centuries AD.

From a private collection of New York.

Price: RESERVED (IN STUDY)