>One of a group of students to whom I was showing an illustration of a late
>Anglo-Saxon sculpted figure of an archangel, taken to represent Gabriel and to
>be the surviving panel from an Annunciation, asked perceptively about the
>possible significance of the manner in which the archangel was holding the
>thumb and fingers of his upraised, palm-outward, right hand. The tips of the
>thumb and third finger are touching; the index and second finger are held
>together, upright; and the little finger is held upright also.
This gesture is known as "power gesture"; it's an attribute of cosmic
kingship; in the Christian tradition, it's used for the type of Christ
pantocrator; for a complete study of this iconographical theme, up to its
roots in early Mesopotomia, see L'Orange, H.P., The iconography of Cosmic
Kingship in the Ancient World, Oslo, 1953.
Sophie Cretaux
Paris
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