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Amhara artist. <em>Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)</em>, late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 81.163.2_front_PS9.jpg)
Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 81.163.2_front_PS9.jpg)
Amhara artist. <em>Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)</em>, late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 81.163.2_front_PS9.jpg)

Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 81.163.2_front_PS9.jpg)

Amhara artist. <em>Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)</em>, late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 81.163.2_view1_bw.jpg)

Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 81.163.2_view1_bw.jpg)

Amhara artist. <em>Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)</em>, late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 81.163.2_back_PS9.jpg)

Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 81.163.2_back_PS9.jpg)

Amhara artist. <em>Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)</em>, late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 81.163.2_view2_bw.jpg)

Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 81.163.2_view2_bw.jpg)

Amhara artist. <em>Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)</em>, late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.81.163.2_print_side1_bw.jpg)

Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.81.163.2_print_side1_bw.jpg)

Amhara artist. <em>Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)</em>, late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.81.163.2_print_side2_bw.jpg)

Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.81.163.2_print_side2_bw.jpg)

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Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)

Arts of Africa

The African Kingdom of Aksum (present-day Ethiopia) adopted Christianity around 330 C.E., not long after the religion was first legalized in the Roman empire. Its artists have demonstrated extraordinary creativity in making crosses, which the Ethiopian Orthodox Church links both to Jesus’s Crucifixion and to the Tree of Life mentioned in the Book of Genesis. This interpretation is reflected in the foliate and natural forms present in this group of processional crosses. The elaborate interlaced motifs here first emerged during the medieval era. The cross on the right features incised images of archangels, saints, and the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child.

The symbol of the cross unites Christian communities worldwide and, like their Italian Catholic counterparts, Ethiopian Orthodox priests would have originally carried these crosses atop staffs for use during the liturgy and processions.
This text refers to these objects: 81.163.2; 2000.95.1; 1999.68.4
CULTURE Amhara artist
MEDIUM Copper alloy
  • Possible Place Made: Lalibela, Ethiopia
    • DATES late 15th or early 16th century
    DIMENSIONS 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm) mount (wall mount -m2): 11 1/2 × 7 1/4 × 7 in. (29.2 × 18.4 × 17.8 cm)  (show scale)
    INSCRIPTIONS (in Ge'ez) Michael, Gabriel, Mary, and her Child; (obverse) Peter, Paul, and [illegible]
    COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
    ACCESSION NUMBER 81.163.2
    CREDIT LINE Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr.
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Amhara artist. Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl), late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 81.163.2_front_PS9.jpg)
    IMAGE front, 81.163.2_front_PS9.jpg., 2019
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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    Amhara artist. <em>Processional Cross (qäqwami mäsqäl)</em>, late 15th or early 16th century. Copper alloy, 11 1/2 × 7 3/16 in. (29.2 × 18.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of George V. Corinaldi Jr., 81.163.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 81.163.2_front_PS9.jpg)

    TAGS

    religious
    staff-head
    metal
    Jesus
    baby
    filagree
    geometric
    pattern
    cross
    crucific
    woven
    weave

    TAGS

    religious
    staff-head
    metal
    Jesus
    baby
    filagree
    geometric
    pattern
    cross
    crucific
    woven
    weave

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