eBook - Medieval Georgian Cloisonne Enamels

History | Crosses | Icons | Plaques | Medallions | Decorative | FULL GALLERY

History - of Georgian Cloisonne Enamels

(continue 1)

The collection of Byzantine enamels in the Georgian State Museum of Fine Arts isn't small either. They are represented by specimens from the 9th century up to the 12th century including. The earliest enamel of Byzantine workmanship, the medals ion of St. Peter of the 9th century adorns the Martvili icon of the Virgin. This is the only Byzantine work of such an early period.

The 10th to the 12th centuries, the time of the highest development of Byzantine enamel-work, is represented more fully. The enamels of the 10th century bear the signs characteristic of the period such as a comparatively uninhibited style, a network of thin partitions which make the folds of the dress revealing the forms of the figure, the eyes, round circles, the hair-pins of noses connected with the gold lines of the brows, restrained colors with purple-brown, emerald-green and blue enamels prevailing. The enamel on the lid of the oval reliquary from the Botkin collection is somewhat unusual in this respect for the lavish use of white, blue and red colors. The Shemokmedi triptych which is considered a direct analogue to the famous Limburg Staurotheque is one of the best enamels of this period.

The collection is especially rich in the works of the 11th century Byzantine art, the majority of which adorn the Khakhuli triptych. Since they are the pieces typical of their time they manifest the signs of deterioration of the style, a greater spiritualization of forms and a definite fixity of expression of the saints. The number of thin partitions increases; they are arranged according to a certain system, predominantly in a herring-bone pattern. The best Byzantine enamels of the Museum show the supreme perfection of workmanship, first and foremost among them the three plaques of Deesis adorning the Khakhuli triptych which are believed to come from the same workshops in Constantinople, where the crown of Constantine or St. Stephen was made; a cross with Christ crucified from the former Botkin collection is another brilliant specimen of the 11th century Byzantine enamel-work.

The above examples of the 11th century Byzantine art demonstrate a classical tendency while there are other specimens, which are typical of another trend of the style common for the time indicated, the so-called Chevron-style. This style is expressed to the fullest in the plaques of the apostles, the four evangelists or the medallion with a half-length image of the Virgin with the Child, all of them placed on the Khakhuli triptych.

Byzantine enamel-work, which can be dated according to the figures depicted in the enamels is represented by the plaque displaying the Emperor Michael VII Ducas and his wife Empress Mary, the daughter of the Georgian King Bagrat IV (Khakhuli triptych). It is indicative of the accepted tradition of gifts presents by Byzantine Emperors to the rulers of other lands. The plaque is dated by the years of reign of Michael VII Ducas, 1071 - 1082.

Although the museum collection is not so rich in the 12th century Byzantine enamels, they all fully demonstrate the style characteristic of the period. The enamel with the crucifixion making use of the composition popular with the Byzantine enamellers of the period representing centurion Longinus and the crying angels displays a somewhat dramatic attitude, while the ecstatic refined images of the Tsilkani icon demonstrate the immaculate perfection and the spiritual significance of the images.

The earliest samples of enamel-work kept at the Georgian State Museum of Fine Arts are of indigenous origin. They date from the 8th-9th centuries. These enamels are not so numerous, but bearing in mind the general scarcity of the early enamels their significance gains more weight. It's just these that the scholars imply when they claim that the first specimens of figurative enamel-work are to be found in Georgia. Along with the Syrian staurotheque off Fieschi-Morgan the Khakhuli quadrifolium with the crucifixion (on the right panel of the triptych) is the earliest example of anthropomorphic enamel-work in all the Christian East. These Georgian enamels of the 8th-9th centuries demonstrating the initial stage of development of the Georgian art of enameling are not only related to this country territorially but show a much more organic affinity. It seems only too natural that Georgia with all her intensive artistic activity and free of any iconoclastic attitudes which had swept the Byzantine empire of that period could produce these earliest examples of figurative art, the more so as the latter show definite links with the general trends of all Georgian art of the period.

Continue >>>