Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 30. (Budapest, 2016)
Szilveszter TERDIK: “Athonite” Miniature Carvings at the Museum of Applied Arts
its style and iconography point to it stemming from the eighteenth century. An unusual piece is the horn panagia, carved on both sides, decorated with scenes from the Gospel, and probably made in the eighteenth century on Mount Athos.46 Horn, in this case coming from an as-yet- unidentified animal, was often used for carving miniatures, as an alternative to boxwood. If an ornamental metal mounting were made for the carving, it could have been worn as a panagia by a bishop. Both sides of the circular carving feature seven scenes arranged in identically sized medallions. On one side, the Nativity constitutes the central scene. Progressing clockwise from the top of the vertical axis, the scenes surrounding it are the Crucifixion, the Lamentation, the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, the Resurrection, the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, and the Ascension. The central scene on the other side shows the Baptism of Christ. Again, progressing clockwise from the top, the surrounding depictions are of the New Testament Trinity, Doubting Thomas, the Annunciation, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the Resurrection of Lazarus, and the Healing of the Paralytic. The principle underlying the order in which the scenes are presented has not yet been determined. There are other horn crosses, carved on both sides in imitation of wood carvings, but smaller in size, held in collections in Serbia.47 Similar compositions of scenes from the Gospel surrounded by ornamental frames can also be found on wooden carved panagias: one piece from the eighteenth century is held in the collection of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy in Szentendre, Hungary, although it differs from the Budapest exemplar both in the style of carving and in the iconographie details.48 More similar to the piece in Budapest is the wooden carved panagia in the National Museum in Krakow, which contains seven scenes from the New Testament interwoven into a composition of the Tree of Jesse, featuring busts of five other prophets in addition to the ancestral father.49 Similar in structure, but even more intricately worked, is the panagia in the Museum of Applied Arts, Belgrade, which was probably made in Chelandari Monastery.50 Panagiarion The collection contains only one of this rare type of object, and even this is fragmentary.51 (Fig. 11) This octagonal, platelike carving probably originally had a twin of the same size and shape, and the two would have constituted a folding panagiarion. It is customary in monasteries to bless a loaf of bread in veneration of the Mother of God (Theotokos), and this bread is then broken up and shared among the monks present.52 There is evidence stating that long ago this practice was widespread, not only in monasteries, but also in secular courts. A piece of the blessed bread could also be placed in a closed container and worn around a person’s neck, so that it could be taken to those who were not present. Plates designed to hold holy bread are called panagiaria, but the name is also given to encolpia that are suitable for transporting pieces of bread.53 Due to their function, such objects also follow a strict iconography. On one side, missing from the exemplar in Budapest, there is usually a depiction of the Mother of God (usually the Platytera), ringed by one of the hymns sung during the blessing of the bread. The 66
