A TRIPTYCH CELEBRATING THE DELIVERANCE OF CONSTANTINOPLE

细节

A TRIPTYCH CELEBRATING THE DELIVERANCE OF CONSTANTINOPLE

GREEK, 18TH CENTURY

The central panel with an elaborate composition depicting the City of Constantinople, before the walls of which is an icon of the Mother of God, being venerated by the Patriarch Sergios, the Emperor Heraclius and his consort, and numerous courtiers, below, amidst a conflagration, the small Byzantine fleet is depicted defeating the combined Avar and Persian fleets; the leaves with the Annunciation to the Virgin and the full-length fiures of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, together with Saints Nicholas and Artemios(?), the exterior of the leaves with faint figures of two armour-clad archangels
13 3/8 x 18½in. (34 x 47cm.)

拍品专文

The fortunes of the Byzantine State had for some time been in decline and by the 7th Century it's existence was being threatened by the Avars and the Persians. In 626 the Avars besieged Constantinople and their fleet lay in the Bosphorous. A heavy defeat was inflicted upon them by the much smaller Byzantine fleet under Heraclius. The success of the Byzantine fleet resting not only upon their superiority in maneouvering but on their use of 'Greek Fire', a highly flammable substance that was shot at enemy ships using catapults mounted on the prows of their boats.

The triptych celebrates the revival of Byzantium and the victory over the Avars in 626, recalling the Akathistos Hymn which was first sung in honour of the Theotokos during the all-night vigil in recognition of the deliverance of Constantinople.