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ETHIOPIAN CROSSES
A group of Ethiopian iron hand crosses
15th to 19th century
H 31,8 cm a 23,1 cm
A group of iron hand crosses. The Ethiopian hand crosses are associated with the Christian liturgy. Every priest and monk owns a hand cross to bless the believers. Most of the early hand crosses were in iron, occasionally in wood. Ethiopia was one of the first countries to adopt Christianity. As early as the 4th century the kingdom of Aksum, in Northern Ethiopia, minted coins with crosses. Throughout the centuries Ethiopian crosses evolved from fairly simple forms, often of Coptic type, to more elaborate patterns. A European influence is discernible in the 16th and 17th centuries, certainly a consequence of the presence of missionaries and other Europeans in the Ethiopian court. |
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