Fragments of plate depicting the descent from the Cross

These four fragments were part of a large plate that may have been used as a paten—the plate on which the sacramental bread is laid. Since this type of liturgical object was used in various Christian cults, this plate was probably used by one of the Arab-Christian communities living in the Syro-Egyptian world.

The yellowed paint is covered with a white slip, on which are motifs painted in blue, black, turquoise, and brown, enhanced with white slip, and then covered with a transparent glaze. This technique of applying a glaze over painted decorations, which developed in the seventh century in the Syro-Egyptian world [1], continued under the Mamluks: a bowl in the Louvre Museum[2] has similar colouring. According to J. Soustiel, few of the objects conserved from this period have remained intact. )

Animated narrative scenes are rare in Mamluk ceramics. In this case, the figurative representation is explained by the fact that the plate was used by Christians. Recounted in the four canonical gospels and in other apocryphal texts, the descent from the Cross is a specifically Christian scene, as the Crucifixion isn’t recognized in Islam[3]. This event was only represented later, probably because of the narrative—rather than liturgical—nature of the scene. The first representations were probably made in the Byzantine world. It wasn’t until the Carolingian period that this iconography spread to the West. It then developed during the medieval period, but was mainly used during the Counter-Reformation in the seventeenth century. 

In addition to the Virgin and Christ, Joseph of Arimathea, who is supporting the body, three female saints, and Saint John are represented. The form of the cross, the presence of angels crying in the upper section, and the general arrangement of the figures are based on Byzantine models. The Virgin’s great show of tenderness—she is pressing her cheek against her son’s—echoes the pathetic style that developed from the frescoes of Nerezi (1164, Macedonia) in the empire. In a fresco in the crypt of the Basilica of Aquileia (Italy), dating from the end of the twelfth century, the same style is found in a representation of the descent from the Cross, which is iconographically very similar to that of the bowl. 

Stylistically, the painting is rooted in the Islamic culture of the Near East. The dotted halo had already been used on Egyptian ceramics in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the faces with almond eyes are found in Arab manuscripts, eastern ceramics[4] and metals from the twelfth century onwards.

The technique and style of the fragment follows the tradition of twelfth-century Syro-Egyptian art, with iconographic influences from Byzantine art that developed from 1164, particularly in the years 1180–1200. However, given the many allusions to Ilkhanid art, this piece probably dates from the end of the thirteenth century or the beginning of the fourteenth century. The figure of Saint John, who’s crying in a frenzied way, recalls figures in the funeral scenes in a great Shahnama (Book of Kings) produced in around 1330 in Tabriz[5]. The same type of sinicized clouds as those surrounding the angels on the plate is found in these scenes. These motifs, as well as others originating from China, were transmitted to Egypt through trade after the pax mongolica. The leaves in relief in the background recall the set of Iranian ceramics from the Ilkhanid period known as ‘Sultanabad ware’. Some elements, particularly the dotted halos and knitted brows, are also reminiscent of an icon that was probably made for the Crusaders in the 1280s[6].

[2] Bowl with flared edges and decorations radiating from the centre, Syria, fourteenth century, Louvre Museum, Paris, OA 5969

[3] According to the Qu’ran, complemented by various traditions, Christ didn’t die on the Cross—he was replaced by a double or an apostle.

[4] Stars in the Palace of Kubādābād, thirteenth century, Konya, Karatay Museum

[5] The funeral of Esfandiar, the Great Shahnama, Iran, in the 1330s, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[6] Crucifixion on a double-sided icon, c.1280, Egypt, Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai.