Ethiopian Metal Cross Pendant Icon, diptych

Ethiopia: Hand-painted metal cross pendant icon - Diptych

of the Coptic Orthodox Church

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In the 15th century King Za'ra Ya'cob enacted a degree, which told that all christs should wear a cross around their necks. This is why ethiopians receive at their baptism a neck string, to which a neck cross - as shown here - can be attached later.

Ethiopian Icons are - as a particular feature in the icon painting - manufactured by using the old traditions until the present day. What concerns their form, you can mainly find diptychs and triptychs and very rarely single panels. On the contrary to byzantine icons Ethiopian Icons show a more popular character. The paintings on them have mostly a powerfull range of colours. They renounce on perspective and the frontality of the figures whose faces have big eyes. The painting of icons in Ethiopia dates back to the 15th century.