medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Thomas Izbicki <[log in to unmask]>
> I have an inquiry in to a friend in DISTAFF, the historic clothing
group.
say, Tom,
any chance that folks on Distaff would have a thought or two about my little
Nazareth problem?
c
------------------
as it happens, i've recently been trying to identify a very curious
element found on a bit of 12th century sculpture.
it is, apparently, some sort of "utilitarian" object, not a
"decorative" one.
>
among the extraordinary, very high quality sculptures found in
excavations from the church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, is a large (73cm
high) fragment of a torso of St. Peter (identifiable by his keys and church)
:
http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/nazareth/bagatti/colfigs/bagatti-pl42.jpg
http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/nazareth/bagatti/colfigs/bagatti-pl43-3.jpg
he wears a cord-belt, below and to the left of the knot of which is
suspended this curious object, carved in low relief on the smooth area of the
fabric just there :
http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/nazareth/bagatti/colfigs/bagatti-pl43-4.jpg
(note that the image will expand to larger than the size of an IE
window)
it appears to be some sort of "heart-shaped" object, suspended from a
wound cord smaller in diameter than the cord which serves as Peter's belt.
to the right of it is something else which i can't quite make out:
perhaps a thin leather(?) strap, looped in a half-hitch around the belt at the
top and ending in a series of regularly punched holes.
is there something suspended from it, just where the punched holes
begin?
what *are* these objects ??
there is also the curious little "trident" scratched into the cloth
just to the left of the fold on the left of the "heart" --but that appears to
be some sort of "decoration", as opposed to those objects suspended from the
belt which are, surely, utilitarian in nature.
any thoughts on these would be most welcome.
the Nazareth sculptures, btw, surely date from before the recapture of
the town in 1187, and were perhaps done after a massive and destructive
earthquake in 1170.
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