Ancha icon
Encyclopedia
The Ancha Icon of the Savior, known in Georgia
as Anchiskhati , is a medieval Georgian encaustic
icon
, traditionally considered to be the Keramidion, a "holy tile" imprinted with the face of Jesus Christ miraculously transferred by contact with the Image of Edessa
(Mandylion). Dated to the 6th-7th century, it was covered with silver chasing and amended in the following centuries. The icon derives its name from the Georgian monastery of Ancha
in what is now Turkey
, whence it was brought to Tbilisi
in 1664. The icon is now kept at the National Art Museum of Georgia
in Tbilisi.
. According to the Georgian hymnist Ioann, bishop of Ancha
(fl. 1195), the icon was brought in Georgia by Apostle Andrew from Hierapolis
. An 18th-century inscription on the icon covering associates the Anchiskhati with the Image of Edessa, an "icon not made by hand
", brought to the cathedral of Ancha in the Georgian princedom of Klarjeti
to preserve it from the iconoclastic campaign by Leo the Isaurian
.
After the Ottoman
conquest of the Georgian Principality of Samtskhe, of which Klarjeti was part, in the 16th century, Christianity went in decline in the area. In 1664, the merchant Amirjan Ievangulishvili brought the icon of Ancha to Tbilisi, where it was acquired by the Georgian catholicos
Domenti II for 2,000 silver coins for the newly refurbished church of the Nativity of the Theotokos
in Tbilisi, henceforth known as the Anchiskhati church. The icon remained one of the most venerated relics of Georgian Christianity until after the Soviet takeover of Georgia
it was moved to the National Art Museum of Georgia in the 1920s. The Anchiskhati church was closed down and would only be reopened in the last years of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Since then, there have been repeated calls from the Orthodox Christians to return the icon to the church’s property.
. In the early 14th century, the icon was converted into the triptych
at the expense of the Jaqeli
princes of Samtskhe. The chasing was amended several times and embellished with various inscriptions that date to the 12th, 14th, 16th, and 18th centuries. The 14th and 17th-century chasing of the lateral leaves depicts 12 scenes from the New Testament
, from the Annunciation
to the Ascension of Jesus.
The icon (105X71X4.6 cm without a kiot, an icon box) is enclosed into the middle panel of the triptych so that only the face of the Savior remains visible. The silver chasing, remodeled in 1825, presents Christ Pantocrator
, while the original encaustic painting shows the bust of Jesus. The frame of the central panel is adorned with Beka Opizari's work, a high point of the medieval Georgian art. The two symmetrically located standing figures of John the Baptist
and Mary
, combined with the icon of Jesus, creates the scene of deesis
. The archangel
s Michael
and Gabriel
and the apostles Peter
and John
can be seen in the corners of the frame.
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
as Anchiskhati , is a medieval Georgian encaustic
Encaustic painting
Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface—usually prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used...
icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
, traditionally considered to be the Keramidion, a "holy tile" imprinted with the face of Jesus Christ miraculously transferred by contact with the Image of Edessa
Image of Edessa
According to Christian legend, the Image of Edessa was a holy relic consisting of a square or rectangle of cloth upon which a miraculous image of the face of Jesus was imprinted — the first icon ....
(Mandylion). Dated to the 6th-7th century, it was covered with silver chasing and amended in the following centuries. The icon derives its name from the Georgian monastery of Ancha
Ancha monastery
Ancha was a medieval Georgian monastery and cathedral church of the Bishopric of Ancha, located near what is now the village of Anaçlı, Artvin Province, Turkey. Purportedly once a cross-in-square design, the church now lies almost completely in ruins....
in what is now Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, whence it was brought to Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
in 1664. The icon is now kept at the National Art Museum of Georgia
Art Museum of Georgia
The Art Museum of Georgia , officially known as Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts , is one of the most important museums in Georgia...
in Tbilisi.
History
The medieval Georgian sources identify the Ancha icon with the Keramidion, a "holy tile" imprinted with the face of Christ miraculously transferred by contact with the MandylionImage of Edessa
According to Christian legend, the Image of Edessa was a holy relic consisting of a square or rectangle of cloth upon which a miraculous image of the face of Jesus was imprinted — the first icon ....
. According to the Georgian hymnist Ioann, bishop of Ancha
Bishopric of Ancha
The Bishopric of Ancha was one of the principal territorial jurisdictions of the medieval Georgian Orthodox Church in the province of Klarjeti , with its cathedral church at Ancha . It came in existence between the 7th and 9th centuries and had disappeared by the middle of the 17th century after...
(fl. 1195), the icon was brought in Georgia by Apostle Andrew from Hierapolis
Hierapolis
Hierapolis was the ancient Greco-Roman city which sat on top of hot springs located in south western Turkey near Denizli....
. An 18th-century inscription on the icon covering associates the Anchiskhati with the Image of Edessa, an "icon not made by hand
Acheiropoieta
Acheiropoieta — also called Icons Made Without Hands — are a particular kind of icon which are alleged to have come into existence miraculously, not created by a human painter. Invariably these are images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary...
", brought to the cathedral of Ancha in the Georgian princedom of Klarjeti
Klarjeti
Klarjeti was a province of ancient and medieval Georgia, which is currently part of the Artvin Province in northeastern Turkey. Klarjeti, the neighboring province of Tao and several other smaller districts constituted a larger region with shared history and culture conventionally known as...
to preserve it from the iconoclastic campaign by Leo the Isaurian
Leo III the Isaurian
Leo III the Isaurian or the Syrian , was Byzantine emperor from 717 until his death in 741...
.
After the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
conquest of the Georgian Principality of Samtskhe, of which Klarjeti was part, in the 16th century, Christianity went in decline in the area. In 1664, the merchant Amirjan Ievangulishvili brought the icon of Ancha to Tbilisi, where it was acquired by the Georgian catholicos
Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia
Catholicos–Patriarch has been the title of the heads of the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1010. The first Catholicos–Patriarch of All Georgia was Melkisedek I...
Domenti II for 2,000 silver coins for the newly refurbished church of the Nativity of the Theotokos
Nativity of the Theotokos
The Nativity of the Theotokos, celebrating the birth of Mary, is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox liturgical year. It is celebrated on September 8 on the liturgical calendar .According to the sacred tradition of the Orthodox Church,...
in Tbilisi, henceforth known as the Anchiskhati church. The icon remained one of the most venerated relics of Georgian Christianity until after the Soviet takeover of Georgia
Red Army invasion of Georgia
The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia was a military campaign by the Soviet Russian Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government and installing the Bolshevik regime...
it was moved to the National Art Museum of Georgia in the 1920s. The Anchiskhati church was closed down and would only be reopened in the last years of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Since then, there have been repeated calls from the Orthodox Christians to return the icon to the church’s property.
Description
Ancha Icon of the Savior is an encaustic icon dated to the 6th-7th century as it was identified by the detailed analysis by art historian Shalva Amiranashvili in the 1920s. By the end of the 12th century the icon was covered with gilded chasing by the Georgian master Beka Opizari at the behest of the bishop of Ancha, Ioann Rkinaeli, and the queen Tamar of GeorgiaTamar of Georgia
Tamar , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was Queen Regnant of Georgia from 1184 to 1213. Tamar presided over the "Golden age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy...
. In the early 14th century, the icon was converted into the triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
at the expense of the Jaqeli
Jaqeli
Jaqeli was a Georgian noble family, an offshoot of the House of Chorchaneli, that rose to a ruling house of the principality of Samtskhe in the 13th century, and eventually Islamized to become a dynasty of Akhaltsikhe under the Ottoman Empire in the 16th/17th century.-History:"Jaqeli", literally...
princes of Samtskhe. The chasing was amended several times and embellished with various inscriptions that date to the 12th, 14th, 16th, and 18th centuries. The 14th and 17th-century chasing of the lateral leaves depicts 12 scenes from the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, from the Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
to the Ascension of Jesus.
The icon (105X71X4.6 cm without a kiot, an icon box) is enclosed into the middle panel of the triptych so that only the face of the Savior remains visible. The silver chasing, remodeled in 1825, presents Christ Pantocrator
Christ Pantocrator
In Christian iconography, Christ Pantokrator refers to a specific depiction of Christ. Pantocrator or Pantokrator is a translation of one of many Names of God in Judaism...
, while the original encaustic painting shows the bust of Jesus. The frame of the central panel is adorned with Beka Opizari's work, a high point of the medieval Georgian art. The two symmetrically located standing figures of John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
and Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
, combined with the icon of Jesus, creates the scene of deesis
Deesis
In Byzantine art, and later Eastern Orthodox art generally, the Deësis or Deisis , is a traditional iconic representation of Christ in Majesty or Christ Pantocrator: enthroned, carrying a book, and flanked by the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist, and sometimes other saints and angels...
. The archangel
Archangel
An archangel is an angel of high rank. Archangels are found in a number of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism and by most Christians. Michael is the only archangel specifically named in the Protestant Bible...
s Michael
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
and Gabriel
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretells the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus...
and the apostles Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
and John
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
can be seen in the corners of the frame.