λ TWO ETHIOPIAN BRASS COPTIC CROSSES PATONCE AND A CHINESE MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID ROSEWOOD CRUCIFIX
Ethiopia and China, mid to late 19th century

Comprising two Christian Coptic openwork processional crucifixes in the shape of crosses patonce, the first pierced, the latter engraved, worked in the typical style from the Gondar area, the second cross decorated with the iconography of the Virgin and Child in the centre, surrounded by the Archangels Gabriel and Michael, two roundels with ducks below them, on the base a line of figures shoulder to shoulder breaking the bread (Eucharist), each ca. 44.5cm high; and a Chinese export Christian cross, made of rosewood and inlaid in mother-of-pearl tesserae with fruiting vines, vegetal sprays stemming from an urn at the bottom, volutes and further scrolls, the back plain, mounted on a metal black stand, 35.5cm high excluding the stand.

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Provenance: the crosses, Hargesheimer Kunstauktionen, Dusseldorf, Important Greek and Russian Icons, 9 - 11 November 2017, part of lot 157.