![1675 (ca.), [Ethiopia], Wall Painting with a Priest of Heaven -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition) | by R.M.Lenox](http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53342060982_5d0c4efef3.jpg)
1675 (ca.), [Ethiopia], Wall Painting with a Priest of Heaven -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: This is an image of one of twenty-four "priests of heaven," or Kahənatä sämay. The designation refers to the Elders of the Apocalypse, who, according to the teachings of the Ethiopian Church, fall under the category of angels. Equipped with crowns and censers, they celebrate the divine liturgy, arrayed in a composition typical of the seventeenth century. The cut of their garments and the cloth's dotted, striped, or floral patterns reflect elite tastes for textiles and clothing imported from India and Turkey.
Link to other paintings from the exhibition "Africa & Byzantium".
1675 (ca.), [Ethiopia], Wall Painting with a Priest of Heaven -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: This is an image of one of twenty-four "priests of heaven," or Kahənatä sämay. The designation refers to the Elders of the Apocalypse, who, according to the teachings of the Ethiopian Church, fall under the category of angels. Equipped with crowns and censers, they celebrate the divine liturgy, arrayed in a composition typical of the seventeenth century. The cut of their garments and the cloth's dotted, striped, or floral patterns reflect elite tastes for textiles and clothing imported from India and Turkey.
Link to other paintings from the exhibition "Africa & Byzantium".