Epitaphios Sindon, 17th century

  • Byzantine, Roman

Embroidery, silk and metallic thread on silk plain weave

  • Overall: 41 3/4 × 74 inches (106 × 188 cm)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James O. Keene

53.476

Inscribed, in border, in Khutsuri, an ecclesiastical Georgian alphabet: [translated by Canon Professor Maurice Briere: "With the help of God, I, sinner, Ikakhtha, daughter of King Messire Khosro, Elene having become Ekaterine, wife of Messire Pharsdan of Phanaskert, have undertaken to adorn the Holy Descent from the Cross of Christ, our God, for the ransom of the souls of our family; in order to obtain a long life for her sons and daughters, my daughter the nun Anastasia has designed and embroidered this (Descent). Help and have pity, Holy Christ, Amen."]

Mr. and Mrs. James O. Keene (Birmingham, Michigan, USA)

1953-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Barnet, P. Clothed in Majesty: European Ecclesiastical Textiles from the Detroit Insitute of Arts. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, 1991, no. 8, p. 21. Weibel, A. C. "An Embroidery of the Eastern Orthodox Church," Bulletin of the DIA XXXIV, no. 1. pp. 6-8. Textile Masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Checklist, DIA. Checklist no. 34.

Byzantine, Roman, Epitaphios Sindon, 17th century, embroidery, silk and metallic thread on silk plain weave. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James O. Keene, 53.476.