Crosses from Ethiopia at the

Dallas Museum of Art

An Overview

Jacopo Gnisci
all photos courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art except where otherwise noted

C
arried in procession, placed at the top of a The aim of this article is to take a step in this direction by
church to mark the landscape, held by a priest offering an overview of an extensive collection of Ethiopian
to bestow blessings, or worn around the neck crosses at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA). In 2016, thanks
for protection and to assert identity, the cross, to a collaboration between the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art
in all its manifestations, has been for centu- History (EODIAH) and the DMA, I was invited to take a closer
ries a ubiquitous symbol in the daily and look at this collection, which had received some attention in the
religious life of Christian Ethiopians.1 Thanks to the publication literature but had not yet been systematically investigated. The
of catalogs, articles, and books, the organization of exhibitions, collection includes 258 items:5 178 hand crosses;6 8 processional
anthropological research, and the study of literary sources, our crosses;7 5 metal prayer-stick finials;8 and 67 pectoral crosses.9 As
knowledge of Ethiopian crosses has improved considerably since it is obviously not possible to analyze each item in a paper of this
Eine Moore’s pioneering work on the subject (1971; 1973). length, the focus will be on some of its highlights.
However, the study of Ethiopian crosses is still very much in The DMA’s collection of crosses is one of the largest outside
its early stages. In particular, the approach to dating Ethiopian of Ethiopia. To put it in perspective, the National Museum of
crosses has seen little development, and the criteria one must African Art at the Smithsonian Institution (Kotz 1999: 159) owns
adopt are still those first clearly outlined by Moore.2 Inscriptions a total of sixty-six such items (fifteen hand crosses; forty-three
providing reliable dating evidence for Ethiopian crosses are pectoral crosses; four processional crosses; and four prayer stick
rare—especially on pieces that are presumed to predate the fif- finials) whereas the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD
teenth century—and not always original, forcing us to rely, in (Horowitz 2001) has seventeen (three hand crosses; eight pro-
most cases, on stylistic, morphological, and paleographic evi- cessional crosses; and six pectoral crosses). Both museums also
dence. Taken individually, these three strands of evidence are not own other objects, such as scrolls, icons and manuscripts, which
always reliable,3 but in combination they can allow us to date a are not present in the DMA’s collection. Several other museums
cross on firmer grounds. in the United States have Ethiopian crosses. The largest of which
Unfortunately, few Ethiopian crosses can be dated with con- I am aware is the Portland Art Museum in Portland, OR, which
fidence.4 For this reason it is important to document, catalogue, has 344 crosses that were examined in a preliminary fashion by
and study the thousands of crosses scattered across Ethiopia’s Perczel (1981). Another large collection is that of the Brooklyn
many monasteries to identify examples that can be dated with Museum in New York, which owns eighty-nine crosses.10 Most
some certainty and thus, eventually, enable us to provide a more institutions, however, only have a small number of pieces.
reliable framework for investigating those examples that cur- In this respect, worthy of mention are the collections of the
rently pose difficulties to Ethiopianist art historians. As argued Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (LaGamma 2004), the
elsewhere for the study of Ethiopian manuscripts (Gnisci 2017), Newark Musuem in Newark, NJ,11 the Yale University Art Gallery
the cataloging effort should also include the many collections of in New Haven, CT, and the Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville,
Ethiopian crosses in European and American museums. FL (Cooksey 2016: 73–77), among others.
The history of how such a large number of Ethiopian crosses
Jacopo Gnisci is a researcher at the Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian came to be acquired by the DMA has been presented elsewhere
Studies, University of Hamburg. He has published numerous studies on (Walker 2009: 264–66), but it is worthwhile to recapitulate that
Christian Ethiopian art and collaborated with several institutions in- information here.12 Between 1964 and 1967, Dr. Kenneth R.
cluding the Dallas Museum of Art, the Apostolic Vatican Library, and Redden (d. 1998), who taught law at the University of Virginia,
the Bodleian Library. j.gnisci@live.com lived in Ethiopia as a Fulbright professor. He was also at this

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 1 A liturgical wooden hand cross from the collection exhibit- In 1966, three crosses from the collection were displayed, along
ed at the Musée Dynamique in Dakar, Senegal in 1966.
19th–20th century; 43.1 cm x 20.4 cm
with a dozen other works from Ethiopia, in an exhibition of
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.20 African art organized by the Musée Dynamique in Dakar and the
Grand Palais in Paris (M’veng et al. 1966: 111–14). The exhibition
2 One of two wooden hand crosses from the collection
exhibited at the Musée Dynamique in Dakar, Senegal in 1966 included loans from several US collectors and museums, includ-
19th–20th century; 40 cm x 19.3 cm ing the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.16 Cambridge, MA; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Museum of
3 One of the oldest metal hand crosses in the collection Primitive Art in New York; and the National Museum of African
15th–16th century; 29.8 cm x 10.1 cm Art (Biro 2015). Redden and his wife, Dr. Hebe Redden, were
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.64 listed among the Ethiopian lenders (M’veng et al. 1966: 171). The
exhibition included coll. nos. 13 (Fig. 1), 16 (Fig. 2), and a third
hand cross that cannot be identified. Interestingly, the catalogue
indicates that coll. no. 16 came from Goğğam, which suggests
that Dr. Redden may have acquired at least some of the crosses
time part of a team of American and continental law professors in this region of Ethiopia. The entire collection was subsequently
invited by Emperor Haile Selassie to establish the country’s first displayed at the University of Virginia in 1972.
Faculty of Law at the Haile Selassie I University in Addis Ababa In the spring of 1991, Redden and his wife decided to donate
(Redden 1968: ix–xi). During his stay, Dr. Redden acquired a col- the entire collection to St. Mary’s University in San Antonio,
lection of Ethiopian crosses, although no records survive of the TX, where Redden had been a visiting lecturer for several years.
objects’ provenance.13 The president of St. Mary’s University, the Rev. Father John J.
At the time, because Ethiopia lacked an antiquities protection Moder, accepted the gift in writing, but he soon began to think
law, Redden volunteered to draft such a law at the emperor’s that a broader public would be able to access the crosses if they
request. According to an anecdote related by Redden, when he were placed in a well-known museum. Thus, the Reddens and
presented the proposed legislation to Haile Selassie, the emperor Father Moder asked Louise Cantwell, vice president for institu-
observed that Redden had put an effective date of one month tional advancement and general counsel at Our Lady of the Lake
after his own departure from Ethiopia in the draft—to which University, to find a new home for the collection.15
Redden replied that he had done so because he hoped to take Several museums expressed an interest, but the works were
his collection of crosses back to the United States, giving the two eventually given to the DMA for several reasons, including the
men a good laugh. The emperor did allow him to take the crosses fact that it already possessed a large collection of African art
back, expressing the hope that he would eventually leave them to (Walker 2009). In turn, Dr. Anne Bromberg, curator of ancient
a public institution in order to allow scholars and visitors to learn and Asian art at the DMA, and Dr. Richard Brettell, then director
more about the culture of Ethiopia.14 of the museum, who were involved in the acquisition, believed

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 4 A late 15th- or early 16th-century portrait of St.
Ezra shown holding a cross with a cloth attached
to its bottom loop in a manuscript from the
Gundä Gunde monastery.
Photo: courtesy of Michael Gervers and the DEEDS
Projects

5 A portrait of Habtä Śəllase shown holding a

cross similar to the one in the collection of the
DMA from the same manuscript as Figure 4.
Photo: courtesy of Michael Gervers and the DEEDS
Projects

that the Ethiopian crosses would comple-

ment the museum’s existing collections
and serve as a bridge towards the local
African American community.16
In 1992, the DMA organized an instal-
lation to present the entire collection to
the public and invited Csilla F. Perczel to
give a lecture on Ethiopian crosses and
to have a better look at the collection,
which she had only seen in photographs.17
However, this did not lead to the publica-
tion of a catalogue, and consequently all
the objects in the collection were dated,
without detailed investigation, between
the eighteenth and twentieth centuries,
and the matter received limited attention
thereafter. A more attentive study of the
DMA’s collection reveals that most of the
objects, especially the hand crosses, can
be dated to a period between the late nineteenth and first half 107–11; Fritsch 2001: 31; Kriss 1992: 72; Buxton 1970: 89, 169–72;
of the twentieth century, with some noticeable exceptions that Beckingham and Huntingford 1961: 126–27).20 The DMA cross can
belong to an earlier period. be compared with two similar examples in the collection of the
For instance, coll. no. 64 is an iron hand cross that can be National Museum of African Art dated to the fifteenth century
ascribed to a period between the fifteenth and sixteenth century (coll. nos. 2004-7-11, 2004-7-12), a cross in the Brooklyn Museum
(Fig. 3). It has narrow, flat, and slightly flaring arms with rounded (coll. no. 84.108.1), and examples published in catalogs of Ethiopian
finials. Its slender handle terminates in a small rectangle with a art (Balicka-Witakowska et al. 2007: cat. 85; Langmuir, Chojnacki,
loop attached at its bottom, which was used for inserting a piece and Fetchko 1978: no. 29c, to mention just a few).
of cloth rather than for suspending the cross around the neck, as Also of considerable age, among the metal hand crosses, is
has been suggested elsewhere (Moore 1989: 112). That the loop coll. no. 178, a moline-type cross with arms widening at the outer
had such a function can clearly be seen by looking at several fif- ends and trefoil finials (Fig. 6).21 Such crosses appear in Ethiopian
teenth/sixteenth-century miniatures, such as a depiction of Ezra painting from the second half of the seventeenth century
in a manuscript from the monastery of Gundä Gunde (Fig. 4).18 onwards, as illustrated by paintings in the church of Däbrä Sina
In a depiction of Habtä Śәllase from the same manuscript, the Maryam in which several saints are shown holding crosses that
saint holds a hand cross that recalls the one in the DMA (Fig. 5). are almost identical to the DMA one (Chojnacki 2006: 146–47,
A similar cross appears in a depiction of St. George on a fragment Figs. 106–108). This example probably belongs to the late seven-
kept in the Vatican Library (Vatican City State).19 teenth or eighteenth century. However, as this type of cross was
In the Ethiopian Church, as in the Coptic Church, hand crosses continuously produced until the twentieth century (Langmuir,
are priestly attributes used during the liturgy, to perform mir- Chojnacki, and Fetchko 1978: no. 29b), this suggestion is subject
acles, or to bestow blessings upon the faithful (Chojnacki 2006: to a degree of error. Similar crosses can be found in numerous

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 (above, l–r)
6 Metal hand cross
Iron; 17th or 18th century; 18.8 cm x 6.6 cm
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.178

7 Wooden hand cross

17th–18th century (?); 25 cm x 7.3 cm
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.28

8 Wooden hand cross

18th–19th century; 28.8 cm x 9.8 cm
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.23

(below, l–r)
9 Metal hand cross
Silver alloy; 20th century; 26.6 cm x 10.1 cm
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.84

10 Prayer stick finial

Brass; late 19th or 20th century; 15.8 cm x 10.8 cm
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.47

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 11 Processional cross
Silver; second half of the 19th century; 44.4 cm x
31.7 cm
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.39

12 Processional cross
Brass alloy; 18th century; 43.1 cm x 30.1 cm
Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.40

13 A fresco of Saint Gäbrä Mänfäs Qəddus hold-

ing a hand cross with pierced trefoil finials
17th century; Church of Peter and Paul north of
Wuqro, Tigray Region
Photo: author

parts of Ethiopia and in several museums, including the Victoria Several of the crosses as well as one prayer-stick finial have
& Albert Museum in London (coll. no. 1098-1905), the National inscriptions on them. Some—such as coll. nos. 5, 13 (Fig. 1), 61,
Museum of African Art (coll. no. 72-10-5), and the Institute of 64, and 161—simply feature the inscription that Pilate had placed
Ethiopian Studies (IES) (coll. no. 5990; Hect, Benzing, and Girma on the Cross: “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews” (John 19:
Kidane 1990: 52). 19). Others mention the owner of the object.22 So, for instance,
With regard to the wooden hand crosses, coll. no. 28 is among an inscription on the base of coll. no. 84 tells us that “this cross
the oldest in the collection (Fig. 7). The horizontal arms of this belongs to Mämmәru Abär” (Fig. 9). Likewise, through inscrip-
pattée cross—which are only slightly shorter than the upper and tions we learn that coll. no. 47, a twentieth-century prayer stick
lower arms—were originally decorated with trefoil finials, though finial, belonged to “Ḫaylä Mika’el” (Fig. 10), that coll. no. 129
these were probably never as pronounced as the one that appears
on the upper arm. Much of the carved decoration has disappeared,
but a Greek cross with a crux decussata in each of its angles is still
visible on the square base. Wooden crosses in this form are known
to us from as early as the fifteenth century (Fletcher 2005: cat. 8),
but the type of carving on the DMA cross suggests that it belongs
to the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Several related examples
are found in the collection of the IES (coll. nos. 6124, 6186; Hect,
Benzing, and Girma Kidane 1990: 74, 76).
The DMA’s collection includes six wooden hand crosses (coll.
nos. 10, 11, 16, 21, 22, 23) in which a cross is placed inside a circular
or oval frame (Fig. 2). Numerous fourteenth- and fifteenth-cen-
tury metal processional crosses feature a Greek cross in a circular
frame (Di Salvo 2006: 121, 126), as shown by an example at the
Walters Art Museum (coll. no. 54.2890; Griffith Man 2001: cat.
80). However, the earliest examples of wooden hand crosses in
this form date back to the second half of the seventeenth century.
These can be dated thanks to their elaborate and precise decora-
tions, which evoke the carvings seen on the back of icons from
this period, as illustrated by examples in the IES (coll. nos. 6615,
6805, 7035, 7038; Hect, Benzing, and Girma Kidane 1990: 119, 132,
144–45, 146). With the exception of coll. no. 23 (Fig. 8), which
could be earlier, the DMA examples of this cross form lack the
elegant carving and delicate proportions of the late seventeenth-
and eighteenth-century pieces. This suggests that they were made
between the nineteenth and early twentieth century. They can be
compared to a number of crosses in the IES (coll. nos. 6595, 7028,
7041, 7133; Hect, Benzing, and Girma Kidane 1990: 113, 141, 148,
166–67) and a cross in the Walters Art Museum (coll. no. 61.342;
Griffith Man 2001: fig. 29).

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 14 Processional cross
Bronze; 18th–19th century; 37 cm x 26.8 cm
The British Museum, coll. no. Af1868,1230.8
Photo: Trustees of the British Museum

15 Byzantine processional cross

Copper alloy; 10th–12th century; 23.18 cm × 9.84 cm
belonged to “Qäšši Wäldä,” and that coll. no. 102 was donated on Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.44
“Säne 24, 1951.” 16 Pectoral cross
Among the processional crosses, coll. no. 39 (Fig. 11), in sil- Silver alloy; 19th or 20th century; 3.4 cm × 2.5 cm
ver, is a particularly fine example of late nineteenth-century Dallas Museum of Art, coll. no. 1991.352.252
craftsmanship. Almost rhomboid in shape, it features a square
decorated with incised circles at the center inserted in a quadri-
lobed frame filled by an interlace pattern that extends beyond the
frame to envelop four pairs of Latin crosses and support seven
pairs of facing birds. Five pairs of birds support a pattée cross
with patonce cross finials. Incised lines decorate both the cross Four Beasts that surround the cross in some fifteenth-century
and the lower rectangular arms, which were added to help the examples (Moore 1989: Fig. 156; Chojnacki 2006: Fig. 88). The
shaft support its weight. Like all processional crosses, this piece central pattée cross is enclosed in a quatrefoil frame, which, in
has a tapering hollow shaft that allowed it to be mounted on a turn, is placed inside a diamond-shaped frame. The edges of this
staff to be carried in religious processions or to be used during frame function as the base of seven closed pattée crosses. These
the liturgy (Chojnacki 2006: 42–44; Heyer 2003; Beckingham are joined by pierced quatrefoil elements and topped by pierced
and Huntingford 1961: 338). trefoil finials. As noted by Di Salvo (2006: 63), similar finials can
The DMA’s coll. no. 39 can be approximately dated to the reign be seen on the hand cross held by Saint Gäbrä Mänfäs Qәddus in
of Emperor Menelik II (r. 1889–1913), as it is stylistically close the church of Peter and Paul north of Wuqro (Fig. 13).26
to a couple of crosses related to this ruler by inscriptions. One This work, which can be tentatively dated to the eighteenth cen-
such cross (coll. no. 21089),23 is currently in the collection of the tury, belongs to a group of crosses that have been variously dated
Linden Museum in Stuttgart; another is in the Museu de Cultures to a period between the late seventeenth and nineteenth centu-
del Món in Barcelona (coll. no. MEB 267-368.);24 a third is in ries (Moore 1971: 73–74) and are surprisingly uniform in style.
the collection of the Brooklyn Museum (coll. no. 82.102.1); and Crosses in this form must have been produced in large quantities,
a fourth example, from a private collection, has been published to judge by the number of surviving examples. Indeed, numer-
in an exhibition catalogue (Balicka-Witakowska et al. 2007: cat. ous closely related examples have found their way into museum
74).25 The similarity among these four examples and the DMA collections, as illustrated by works in the British Museum (Fig.
piece is evident not so much in their morphology, but in the 14; coll. no. Af1868,1230.8); the Victoria & Albert Museum (coll.
treatment of the metal, in the distinctive rectangular lower arms no. 1733-1869); the Peabody Museum (Langmuir, Chojnacki, and
decorated with split palmettes, and in the addition of certain dec- Fetchko 1978: no. 24); the IES (Coll. no. 3939; Moore 1971: 74, fig.
orative elements. 59); and the Portland Art Museum (Perczel 1981: fig. 8).27
Coll. no. 40 is a brass processional cross that features a pat- One of the most intriguing processional crosses is coll. no.
tée cross with arms of equal length at its center (Fig. 12). A tau 44 (Fig. 15), which does not appear to be Ethiopian but rather
cross under a double arch is attached to the horizontal and upper Byzantine.28 It may be tentatively attributed to a period between
arms of this pattée cross, whereas the lower arm is covered by the the tenth and twelfth centuries and recalls an example in the col-
shaft. It is unclear whether this motif, which has been linked to lection of Archäologische Staatssammlung in Munich (coll. no.
the window patterns of some Ethiopian churches (Moore 1971: 476; Wamser 2004: cat. 167).29 Traces of Byzantine influences
74), can also be interpreted as a stylization of the wings of the can be seen in Ethiopian art of the fourteenth century (Heldman

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VOL. 51, NO. 4 WINTER 2018 african arts
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 1979), but little evidence exists of such influences in art of the In nineteenth-century Ethiopia, silver pectoral crosses, such
previous centuries. It is thus lamentable that we have no records as the DMA’s coll. no. 252 (Fig. 16) were often made from Maria
to establish where in Ethiopia the cross was acquired and that we Theresa thalers. The coin could simply be cut in the shape of a
are unable to determine when and from where it was taken to cross or it could be melted to make a more elaborate piece using
the country, though its presence in Ethiopia remains a matter of the lost-wax method, occasionally in combination with other
considerable interest. techniques, especially filigree, still employed today.30 The exam-
Most of the pectoral crosses in the DMA’s collection are made of ples in the DMA’s collection can be compared with those in the
silver and can be approximately dated to between the nineteenth collection of the National Museum of African Art and in a num-
and the twentieth century. While pectoral crosses were widely ber of publications (e.g., Chojnacki 2006: 161–65; Mercier 2000:
used in Ethiopia from the fifteenth century onwards (Heldman 190; Moore 1973: 230–49).
1993: cat. 1; Chojnacki 2006: 119–22, pl. 23; Vanderhaege 2007), In conclusion, it can be said that the DMA’s collection offers an
and probably during the Aksumite period, judging by the meager excellent overview of cross-making in Ethiopia from the eighteenth
archaeological evidence (Anfray and Annequin 1965: 68–69, fig. century through the first half of the twentieth century. It also includes
12), the majority of examples found in museums and private collec- a small number of interesting works from an earlier period as well as
tions are far more recent. Worn around the neck by both the laity a rare Byzantine cross. Reproductions of the objects, in most cases
and the clergy, this type of cross is believed to protect the wearer in high resolution, are available online as part of the Museum’s effort
against sickness and evil spirits (Chojnacki 2008: 27, figs. 60, 102; to give access to its entire collection through its recently redesigned
Hammerschmidt 1970: 49; Buxton 1970: 164–68; Beckingham and database.31 It is therefore hoped that this overview will encourage
Huntingford 1961: 516). further research on this collection of crosses from Ethiopia.

Notes even into exhibition catalogs. Thus, when provenance of the DMA’s staff who dealt with the acquisition of
is unknown, caution is due when drawing conclusions the collection could not add to the details offered by
This study was made possible by a generous grant
about the date of a cross. the museum’s archive. It may be possible to learn more
from the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History. I am
4 One such example is a processional cross in the about how the collection was acquired by accessing
profoundly indebted to: Dr. Roslyn A. Walker, senior
church of Tä’amina Maryam; see Chojnacki 2006: 135, Redden’s papers.
curator of the Arts of Africa, the Americas, and the
fig. 82 for a discussion and reproduction. The cross 13 In the preface of his book The Legal System of
Pacific at the DMA, for allowing me to study the collec-
can be firmly dated to the mid-fifteenth century: The Ethiopia, which he wrote after leaving Ethiopia, Red-
tion, as well as sharing her knowledge and time with me
typology and ornaments of this example are unattested den mentions only a “happy three-year stay in Addis
and reading the first draft of this study; the DMA’s staff,
prior to the fifteenth century; it features engraved Ababa” (1968: x).
including Jeelan Bilal-Gore and Hillary Bober; Bryna
figures in a style that is typical of the period; it has 14 Letter from Louise Cantwell to the DMA dated
M. Freyer, curator at the National Museum of African
an inscription that mentions Emperor Zär’a Ya’әqob August 14, 1992.
Art (Smithsonian Institution), Dr. Lynley Anne Herbert
(r. 1434–68); and the paleography of this inscription 15 Letter from Louise Cantwell to the DMA dated
and Dr. Christine Sciacca (Walters Art Museum), Dr.
supports its attribution. (I am grateful to Dr. Antonella August 14, 1992.
Susan E. Cooksey (Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art), Dr.
Brita, University of Hamburg, for confirming my 16 Letter from Bromberg to Brettell dated July 22,
Christa Clarke (Newark Museum), and Meghan Bill
impressions on the paleography of the cross.) 1991.
(Brooklyn Museum) for answering my queries concern-
5 All the accession numbers start with 1991.352., 17 DMA Agenda, 1992, vol. 2, no. 2.
ing the collections of their respective institutions. Lastly,
followed by a number between 1 and 258; for sake of 18 Nat. inv. no. 324, fol. 125v.
I must thank Dr. Michael Gervers for allowing me to use
simplicity, the crosses in the DMA’s collection are here 19 Aeth. 260, fol. 1v.
his photographs, and Dr. Rafał Zarzeczny for his help
referred to using just the final part of their accession 20 Nowadays, crosses of all types, but especially
with some of the inscriptions.
number. hand and neck crosses, are being made for the tourist
1 For a more detailed discussion of the history
6 Thirty-seven of the hand crosses are made of market; see Sobania and Silverman 2009 for an over-
and functions of different types of crosses in Christian
wood (coll. nos. 1–2, 4–29, 31–37, 157, 188)—the types view and further bibliography.
Ethiopia, see Chojnacki 2006: 17–78; Heyer 2003;
of wood have not yet been identified; and 141 are made 21 For the terminology used here to refer to the var-
Moore 2003; and Juel-Jensen 1993. For a study of its
using various kinds of metal, including brass, silver ious cross types, see Hect, Benzing, and Girma Kidane
symbolism, see Chojnacki 2006: 79–90; and Hect,
alloy, silver, iron, copper (coll. nos. 50–156, 158–187, 1990: 4–16.
Benzing, and Girma Kidane 1990: 15–17; Perczel 1983
189–192). 22 Dedicatory inscriptions mentioning the owner
also deals with this topic, though she provides no sub-
7 Two are made of wood (coll. nos. 3, 30) and six were already placed on crosses during the Zagwe
stantive evidence for her argument that the interlace
(coll. nos. 39–44) of metal (brass, copper, and silver). period (see Bausi 2013: 171, n. 33) and continued to
patterns of Ethiopian crosses evoke the rhythms and
8 Coll. nos. 45–49 (brass and iron). be added to objects during the Solomonic period (see
shape of the Ethiopic liturgy; for the celebration of
9 Sixty-six (coll. nos. 192–258) are made of metal Tedeschi 1991 for an example).
the symbol of the cross, see Kaplan 2008 with further
(including silver alloy, silver, iron); and one of wood 23 This cross was donated by Emperor Menelik II to
bibliography.
(coll. no. 38). the church of Ǝnṭoṭṭo Ragu’el.
2 On the criteria for dating Ethiopian crosses, see
10 Meghan Bill, personal communication, May 16, 24 The inscription on this cross attributes owner-
Moore 1971: 7–8 and 1973: 67–68; see also Chojnacki
2017. ship to the church of St. Qәddus Mika’el near Ankober,
2006: 91–159. The dating of many examples remains
11 I have been informed by Dr. Christa Clarke that founded by the father of Menelik II, Śahlä Śǝllase,
very problematic and, unless the cross has an inscrip-
there is a forthcoming publication on the museum’s which gives us a post-quem date for this work.
tion that mentions a date or an owner, the suggested
Ethiopian collection (personal communication, Octo- 25 The cross was donated to the church of Ǝnṭoṭṭo
dates remain tentative. This applies to not only most of
ber 12, 2016). Maryam in the late 1880s.
the crosses discussed here, but also to the dates given
12 The following account is based on documents 26 On this church and its other names, see Lepage
to the crosses in the publications referenced herein.
from the DMA’s archive which I was kindly allowed to and Mercier 2005: 200–205.
3 A superficial knowledge of Ethiopian crosses can
access, and especially on the correspondence between 27 This article by Perczel contains numerous
easily lead to mistakes. One of the most emblematic
the museum’s curators and Louise Cantwell, vice presi- significant factual errors. For instance, the author
cases is the catalogue of the exhibition Æthiopia Porta
dent for institutional advancement and general counsel claims that the symbol of the cross could not have
Fidei, in which several twentieth century crosses are
at Our Lady of the Lake University (who in the early reached Ethiopia prior to the rise of Islam in Northern
variously dated between the fourteenth and eighteenth
1990s helped the Reddens find a suitable destination Africa because such a symbol was not commonly
centuries only because their morphology is similar to
for their collection). I would have liked to obtain fur- employed by Christians prior to this period (Perczel
that of earlier examples (Barbieri and Fiaccadori 2012:
ther information about the exact provenance of certain 1981: 52); not only is this not true, but the presence of
cat. nos. 50–52, 54–62). A further point that needs
objects, or at least about the areas of Ethiopia visited crosses on numerous Aksumite coins shows that the
to be made is that an increasing number of fakes are
by Dr. Kenneth R. Redden, but I was not able to do so symbol of the cross had reached Ethiopia long before
being made in Ethiopia, with some finding their way
since Dr. Redden has passed away and the members the rise of the Arab Empire (see Munro-Hay 1993 for

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 some examples). The author also claims that “hand Di Salvo, Mario. 2006. Croci d’Etiopia, il segno della Fetchko. 1978. Ethiopia: The Christian Art of an African
crosses are known to have existed in the sixteenth fede: evoluzione e forma. Milan: Skira. Nation, the Langmuir Collection Peabody Museum of
century” and that “the oldest surviving examples in Salem. Salem, MA: The Peabody Museum of Salem.
Fletcher, Arcadia. 2005. Art of Ethiopia. London: Paul
the collection of the IES … have been attributed to
Holberton. Lepage, Claude, and Jacques Mercier. 2005. Les églises
the seventeenth century” (Perczel 1981: 55), whereas
historiques du Tigray: Art éthiopien / Ethiopian Art: The
in fact even the collection in question includes several Fritsch, Emmanuel. 2001. “The Liturgical Year of The
Ancient Churches of Tigrai. Paris: ERC.
crosses from an earlier period, see for instance coll. Ethiopian Church: The Temporal: Seasons and Sundays”
nos. 4329 and 6222 (Hect, Benzing, and Girma Kidane [special issue]. Ethiopian Review of Cultures 9–10. Mercier, Jacques (ed). 2000. L’arche éthiopienne: art
1990: 33–34, 82). chrétien d’Éthiopie. Paris: Paris musées.
Gnisci, Jacopo. 2014. “The Dead Christ on the Cross
28 This conclusion is based on stylistic evidence
in Ethiopian Art: Notes on the Iconography of the Moore, Eine. 1971. Ethiopian Processional Crosses.
alone. I am most grateful to Dr. Anna Ballian, senior
Crucifixion in Twelfth- to Fifteenth-Century Ethiopian Addis Ababa: The Institute of Ethiopian Studies.
curator at the Benaki Museum; Dr. Warren Woodfin,
Art.” Studies in Iconography 35: 187–228.
Queens College; Dr. Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School Moore, Eine. 1973. “Äthiopische Kreuze / Ethiopian
at Athens; and the V. Rev. Archimandrite Dr. Joachim Gnisci, Jacopo. 2017. “Towards a Comparative Frame- Crosses.” In Walter Raunig (ed.), Religiöse Kunst Äthi-
Cotsonis, Hellenic College Holy Cross, for confirming work for Research on the Long Cycle in Ethiopic opiens / Religious Art of Ethiopia, pp. 66–90. Stuttgart:
my initial impression, although I am fully responsible Gospels: Some Preliminary Observations.” Aethiopica Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.
for any errors or omissions. For an introduction to 20: 70–105.
Moore, Eine. 1989. “Ethiopian Crosses from the 12th to
Byzantine processional crosses, with further references, Griffith Man, C. 2001. “The Role of the Cross in Ethio- the 16th century.” In Proceedings of the First Interna-
see Cotsonis 1994 and Ballian 2004. pian Culture.” In Deborah E. Horowitz (ed.), Ethiopian tional Conference on the History of Ethiopian Art, pp.
29 I must thank the V. Rev. Archimandrite Dr. Joa- Art: The Walters Art Museum, pp. 74–93. Lingfield: 110–14. London: Pindar Press.
chim Cotsonis for drawing my attention to this example. Third Millenium.
30 On the traditional silversmithing techniques Moore, Eine. 2003. “Crosses: Forms and Types of
used in Ethiopia, see Silverman and Sobania 1999. Hammerschmidt, Ernst. 1970. “La chiesa etiopi- Ethiopian Crosses.” In Siegbert Uhlig et al. (eds.),
31 https://www.dma.org/collection. A small num- co-ortodossa.” In George Gerster (ed.), L’arte etiopica, Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, 1: 816–21. Wiesbaden:
ber of crosses have yet to be digitally photographed. translated by Giuseppina G.C. Onesti, pp. 42–50. Harrassowitz.
Milan: Alfieri & Lacroix.
Munro-Hay, Stuart. 1993. “The Iconography of
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