Lot Essay
The inscription along the upper and lower borders has been translated: 'Th[is] door of S[ain]t K.... was erected by the hand of Baron St[eph]anos and his son Baron Tirapet and all (his) ?children. I Serepion have decorated the door; remember me, in the time of the Armenians 961, in his and his parents' memory'.
The four saints in the arcade are identified as Sts. Petros (Peter), Thomas, Matthäos (Matthew) and Paolos (Paul).
The date in the first inscription could also be read as 961 (1511 AD), but this is less probable on stylistic grounds.
The reading of the name of the second saint is also problematic; it could conceivably be read as Thaddeus or Markus.
This door is a remarkable specimen of its kind. The subjects, wealth and versatility of its decoration, as well as its quality, link it to a small number of comparable doors all of which originate from ecclesiastical foundations in Armenia. These are a door in the Museum of Erivan, originally from the Monastery of the Apostles Arakelotz in Mouch, dated 1134 (Sakisian, A.: 'Une porte en bois sculptée arménienne de 1134', Artibus Asiae, VI, fasc.3-4, 1937, pp.221-229) and another dated 1486 from the Monastery in Sevan (L'art arménien de l'ourartou à nos jours, exhibition catalogue, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1970, no.222). Our door comprises decoration arranged in panels, six geometric and two figurative, framed by bands of geometric and floral motifs. While one of the figurative panels can clearly be identified as a biblical scene of the Miraculous Draft of Fish, the other comprises four of the apostles. The door from Sevan also comprises what can be identified as biblical scenes.
In contrast the door from Mouch published by Sakisian comprises an overall geometric design in the form of complicated interlaced rhomboids, the origins of which can be found in architectural tile and stone decoration in Syria. One panel in our door is very closely related to this. Some of the other details clearly relate to contemporary Armenian stone carvings found on churches of the 11th-13th centuries. An example is the church in Pitareki, dated 1213-1222. Here the friezes surounding the apse windows are composed of bands of stylised acanthus leaves similar to those surounding the main decorative panels of our door (see Beridze, V.: 'Quelques aspects de l'architecture Georgienne à coupole de la seconde moitié du Xème siècle à la fin du XIIème', Metsmiéréba, Tiflis, 1976, p.34 and 37). The geometric interlace in the lower right panel of our door resembles very closely that found on a stele from Avan attributed to the 12th century (see Musée des Arts Décoratifs, op.cit., no.215).
Our door belongs to a tradition of woodcarving also practiced for Muslim patrons as is evident from two Seljuq window shutters, one sold in these Rooms, 11 April 1989, lot 415, the other in the Ethnographic Museum, Ankara (Öney, G.: Anadolu Selçuklu Mimari Süslemesi ve el Sanatlari, Ankara, 1988, pl.96). Here the prominent central field with its composite geometrical interlace is similar to that of the middle panel on the present right hand door. These Seljuk shutters also have the roundel flanked by four animals in a more prominent version of the present arrangement. It is possible that the animals in the present door represent the evangelists; the figure of the angel, bull and eagle are correct. The usual lion of Saint Mark is here replaced by a dove.
Taking into account the door's relation to other dated or datable objects as outlined here a dating of the door to 1312, rather than 1511 would seem more likely.
The four saints in the arcade are identified as Sts. Petros (Peter), Thomas, Matthäos (Matthew) and Paolos (Paul).
The date in the first inscription could also be read as 961 (1511 AD), but this is less probable on stylistic grounds.
The reading of the name of the second saint is also problematic; it could conceivably be read as Thaddeus or Markus.
This door is a remarkable specimen of its kind. The subjects, wealth and versatility of its decoration, as well as its quality, link it to a small number of comparable doors all of which originate from ecclesiastical foundations in Armenia. These are a door in the Museum of Erivan, originally from the Monastery of the Apostles Arakelotz in Mouch, dated 1134 (Sakisian, A.: 'Une porte en bois sculptée arménienne de 1134', Artibus Asiae, VI, fasc.3-4, 1937, pp.221-229) and another dated 1486 from the Monastery in Sevan (L'art arménien de l'ourartou à nos jours, exhibition catalogue, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1970, no.222). Our door comprises decoration arranged in panels, six geometric and two figurative, framed by bands of geometric and floral motifs. While one of the figurative panels can clearly be identified as a biblical scene of the Miraculous Draft of Fish, the other comprises four of the apostles. The door from Sevan also comprises what can be identified as biblical scenes.
In contrast the door from Mouch published by Sakisian comprises an overall geometric design in the form of complicated interlaced rhomboids, the origins of which can be found in architectural tile and stone decoration in Syria. One panel in our door is very closely related to this. Some of the other details clearly relate to contemporary Armenian stone carvings found on churches of the 11th-13th centuries. An example is the church in Pitareki, dated 1213-1222. Here the friezes surounding the apse windows are composed of bands of stylised acanthus leaves similar to those surounding the main decorative panels of our door (see Beridze, V.: 'Quelques aspects de l'architecture Georgienne à coupole de la seconde moitié du Xème siècle à la fin du XIIème', Metsmiéréba, Tiflis, 1976, p.34 and 37). The geometric interlace in the lower right panel of our door resembles very closely that found on a stele from Avan attributed to the 12th century (see Musée des Arts Décoratifs, op.cit., no.215).
Our door belongs to a tradition of woodcarving also practiced for Muslim patrons as is evident from two Seljuq window shutters, one sold in these Rooms, 11 April 1989, lot 415, the other in the Ethnographic Museum, Ankara (Öney, G.: Anadolu Selçuklu Mimari Süslemesi ve el Sanatlari, Ankara, 1988, pl.96). Here the prominent central field with its composite geometrical interlace is similar to that of the middle panel on the present right hand door. These Seljuk shutters also have the roundel flanked by four animals in a more prominent version of the present arrangement. It is possible that the animals in the present door represent the evangelists; the figure of the angel, bull and eagle are correct. The usual lion of Saint Mark is here replaced by a dove.
Taking into account the door's relation to other dated or datable objects as outlined here a dating of the door to 1312, rather than 1511 would seem more likely.