Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Icon of the Virgin Enthroned
Not on view
This textile is among the earliest extant icons. Mary, holding the infant Christ, sits on a jeweled throne with the archangels Michael and Gabriel at her sides. "The Holy Mary" is inscribed above her in Greek. Columns with ornate capitals that resemble those in contemporary churches support a lintel. The entire cloth is surrounded by a floriate border, with busts of the evangelists and the apostles in roundels encircling the lower portion. The textile probably served as a wall hanging in a place of worship. Though likely produced in Egypt, the icon resembles sacred objects throughout the larger Byzantine world and beyond.
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