OTTOMAN ARMENIA OR GREECE, 18TH CENTURY

The motif at the centre of these panels, a human face surrounded by six feathered wings, is often encountered on liturgical vessels in the Orthodox tradition: it appears, for example on the stems of two cups kept in the Etchmiadzin cathedral (Treasures of Etchmiadzin, Yerevan, 1984). It may be a reference to the last judgement, and a manuscript produced in New Julfa in Isfahan depicts Jesus seated on a throne within a similar arrangement of wings (Vrej Nersessian, Treasures from the Ark: 1700 Years of Armenian Christian Art, London, 2001, p194). In terms of function, the fittings on the bottom of these plaques suggest that they may have been altar fans, similar to an example in the Kalfyan Colleciton which has a similar ‘sunburst’ design around the edge (Switzerland-Armenia: The Kalfayan Collection, Pregny, 2015, p.19).