Icons from Bawit
Type:
Icons
Date:
Sixth to eighth century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Egypt
Dimensions:
Icon of Christ with Apa Mena, 57 × 57 × 2 cm; bilateral icon, 61.5 × 25.2 × 2.5 cm
Description:
Bawit was the site of a monastery founded by Apa Apollo in the late fourth century. Two panels from there, painted in tempera on sycamore wood , are dated between the sixth and eighth centuries. On one, Christ holds a Gospel book with a jeweled cover and embraces Apa (Father) Mena, who holds a scroll. The figures are labeled in the Coptic language as "Savior" and—twice—"Apa Mena superior," meaning he was the abbot of the monastery. The other panel is the only extant bilateral icon from Egypt. It depicts the archangel Gabriel on one side and the soldier saint Theodore on the other., both identified in Greek These seventh- or eighth-century images were painted over earlier, probably sixth-century, depictions of saints.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
3,
4
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about the Apa Mena icon from Bawit here.
• Hear a lecture about Coptic icons by icon painter Eleanor Rophael, given at the Library of Congress in 2017.
Image Credits:
Heather A. Badamo; Wikimedia Commons
