SEHR FEINE DATIERTE MELKITISCHE IKONE MIT DER GOTTESMUTTER UND DEN HEILIGEN GEORG UND DEMETRIUS

SEHR FEINE DATIERTE MELKITISCHE IKONE MIT DER GOTTESMUTTER UND DEN HEILIGEN GEORG UND DEMETRIUS

Origin: Mittlerer Osten, Michael Polychronis, datiert 1836

Technique: Schwere Laubhholz-Tafel. Eitempera auf Kreidegrund, Goldgrund, Nimben ornamental punziert

Dimension: 41,7 x 31,2 cm

A VERY FINE SIGNED AND DATED MELKITE ICON SHOWING THE MOTHER OF GOD AND CHRIST DEMETRIUS Middle East, Michael Polychronis, dated 1836 Mittlerer Osten, Michael Polychronis, datiert 1836 Tempera on olive wood panel. Finely executed in great detail and in bright colours on a gold leaf ground. The Mother of God is wearing a blue dress turquoise and a maphorion (cloak-cape) lilac, with green lining, with a pink hoodclosed by a gold fibula. Child is dressed in an enhanced vermilion chiton (short-sleeved dress) with ornamental bands in the manner of a deacon’s sticharion (alb with crossed stole) . The clothes of the Mother and the Child are embellished with gold bands and decorated with floral motifs gilt worked with the gold method in assist. On the lower band of the icon are depicted in ornamental capsules in Baroque style on the right Saint George on his white horse and on the left Saint Demetrius on his chestnut horse. The icon inscriptions are in Arabic and Greek: Mother of God and Jesus Christ, in Arabic below the acronyms on the background gold. On the lower border inscribed in archaic Arabic and a particular calligraphy: ‘Oh Mother of the Truthful God Intercede for your slave Abd Allah Fighani 1836.’ Greek inscription on the lower border too. 41.7 x 31.2 cm. Jesus Christus, in Arabisch unter den Akronymen auf dem goldenen Hintergrund. Auf dem The icon come with a written expertise by Dar Antakya. des wahrhaftigen Gottes, lege Fürsprache ein für deinen Sklaven Abd Allah Fighani 1836′. Michel Polychronis, also known as Michael the Cretan and Mikhail Polykhronis Kardali in Arabic, is a talented iconographer born in Crete at the end of the 18th century. Son of the painter Polychronis de Candia, himself a pupil of another famous painter, Georgios Castrophylacas, Michel le Crétois follows in the footsteps of his father who had worked in the Middle East. Icons of Polychronis of Candia can be found in the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai, the Chapel of the Holy Prison in Jerusalem and the Orthodox Convent of Saint George of el-Hmeira in Syria. The son, Michel, will reside in Syria and Lebanon, a period during which he will develop a prolific activity. Later, he will also be called upon to work in Cyprus. Michel le Crétois is renowned for having marked post-Byzantine art with his 19th-century Melkite Near-Eastern iconography. This one is characterized by a clever mix of elements of Byzantine tradition and western elements inspired by Italian baroque art, thus following the then fashionable style, the ‘oriental rococo’, with natural patterns and complex artistic designs. Our iconographer is not only famous for his admirable works, but also for the influence he had on local painters of the 19th century, including the al-Qara family, Ne’meh Nasser al-Homsi and Mikhail Mhanna al-Qodsi. Michel Polychronis the Cretan was a prolific artist, considering the large number of works he produced during his short period in the Middle East.