DOI issue:
No. 4
DOI article:Dobrzeniecki, Tadeusz; Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie [Contr.]: A Silesian relief of the annunciation in the National Museum in Warsaw
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17160#0131
gical connection of the two legends, the first of thcm showing hope and expectation of the Sal-
vation and the second — the accomplishment of these di-sires.
After the Expulsion from Paradise, the legend says, a promise was given to Adam that at
the end of time he would receive the Oil of Mercy. When 932 years old and much weary, Adam
sent his son Seth to Paradise for the promised Oil. The angel guarding the gate of Paradise
forbids, however, Seth to enter there. Instead, he gave Seth three glimpses of Paradise.
In the first vision Seth sees a beautiful garden fuli of fruits, flowers and birds, with four
rivers, flowing from the fountain in the middle of Paradise. Above the fountain a big tree grows,
stripped of foliage and bark as a consefjucnce of the Fali.
In the second vision Seth sees a serpent that entwines about the bare trunk of the tree.
Looking for the last time Seth realizes the immensity of the tree: its branches reach Heaven
and its root sticks Heli. On the top of the tree is a baby in napkins. The angel explains that
the child in the tree is the Son of God, who in a due time will efface the original sin and will
be Himself the promised Oil of Mercy.
The angel gave Seth three seeds of the apple of this paradisiac tree, of the same apple from
which Adam had eaten, and told him to put them under his dead father's tongue. From these
seeds three twigs spring up: a cedar, which by its height symbolizes God the Father, a cypress
that, because of its fragranee, signifies the sweetness of the Son, and a pine which with its many
seeds symbolizes the Holy Ghost. The twigs, found by Moses in the valley of Hebron and re-
cognized by him as a sign of the Trinity, were used to perform miracles. Before his death, Moses
burried them on Mount Thabor. Later, David brought the twigs to Jerusalem, where they
grew together into a single trunk. Under the tree the King composed his penitential psalms.
After David's death the builders of Solomon attempted to use the tree for construction of the
Tempie, but, however it was cut, it was impossible to fit its lenght to the demanded one: the
beam was either too short or too long. Placed at last on the altar in the Tempie the wood
caused a Messianic prophecy of a woman Maximilla and, thercfore, was thrown by the Jews into
probatica piscina. But sińce the water miraculously cured infirmities of those who first bathed
in the pond the Jews placed the wood over the Siloe so that the treading of feet might stamp
out its marvelous power. The beam laid as a bridge until the coming of Sybilla, the Queen of
South, who recognized the holy ąuality of the wood and uttered a prophecy of Christ's coming.
As the time of the Crucifixion approached a third of the beam was cut to form the cross. On
this wood Christ died for the salvation of man.
In this version of the Latin anonym the legend supplanted earlier and less homogenous
compilations and soon spread over whole Europę. Its main pictorial illustrations are
cited by Mrs Quinn5. It is to this group of representations that the Warsaw relief seems
to belong, sińce the Tree with the Infant Christ in it establishes connections with the third
vision of Seth.
The motif of a symbolical tree iii pictorial representations of the Annunciation may be
noticed sińce the 6th century. To this period, most probably,. an ivory plaque in Leningrad6
must be dated, which is the earhest, to my knowledge, example of such an insertion (fig. 3).
Mary is sitling on the left side, raising Her right hand to Gabriel, who approaches from the
right. In the background of the scenc the upper part of a tree is seen with three birds on its
branches. The number of birds brings to mind trinitarian associations and allows to see in the
tree something more than merely a landscape motif.
5. E. Casier Quinn, op. cii. p. 5.
6. La Colleclion- M.P. Bolkine, St Petersburg, 1911, fig on p. 14, pl. 55.; W.F. Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spdtanlike
und des friiheit Mittclallers, Mainz, 1952 (here unjustly referred to as the Annunciation to St Anne).
117
vation and the second — the accomplishment of these di-sires.
After the Expulsion from Paradise, the legend says, a promise was given to Adam that at
the end of time he would receive the Oil of Mercy. When 932 years old and much weary, Adam
sent his son Seth to Paradise for the promised Oil. The angel guarding the gate of Paradise
forbids, however, Seth to enter there. Instead, he gave Seth three glimpses of Paradise.
In the first vision Seth sees a beautiful garden fuli of fruits, flowers and birds, with four
rivers, flowing from the fountain in the middle of Paradise. Above the fountain a big tree grows,
stripped of foliage and bark as a consefjucnce of the Fali.
In the second vision Seth sees a serpent that entwines about the bare trunk of the tree.
Looking for the last time Seth realizes the immensity of the tree: its branches reach Heaven
and its root sticks Heli. On the top of the tree is a baby in napkins. The angel explains that
the child in the tree is the Son of God, who in a due time will efface the original sin and will
be Himself the promised Oil of Mercy.
The angel gave Seth three seeds of the apple of this paradisiac tree, of the same apple from
which Adam had eaten, and told him to put them under his dead father's tongue. From these
seeds three twigs spring up: a cedar, which by its height symbolizes God the Father, a cypress
that, because of its fragranee, signifies the sweetness of the Son, and a pine which with its many
seeds symbolizes the Holy Ghost. The twigs, found by Moses in the valley of Hebron and re-
cognized by him as a sign of the Trinity, were used to perform miracles. Before his death, Moses
burried them on Mount Thabor. Later, David brought the twigs to Jerusalem, where they
grew together into a single trunk. Under the tree the King composed his penitential psalms.
After David's death the builders of Solomon attempted to use the tree for construction of the
Tempie, but, however it was cut, it was impossible to fit its lenght to the demanded one: the
beam was either too short or too long. Placed at last on the altar in the Tempie the wood
caused a Messianic prophecy of a woman Maximilla and, thercfore, was thrown by the Jews into
probatica piscina. But sińce the water miraculously cured infirmities of those who first bathed
in the pond the Jews placed the wood over the Siloe so that the treading of feet might stamp
out its marvelous power. The beam laid as a bridge until the coming of Sybilla, the Queen of
South, who recognized the holy ąuality of the wood and uttered a prophecy of Christ's coming.
As the time of the Crucifixion approached a third of the beam was cut to form the cross. On
this wood Christ died for the salvation of man.
In this version of the Latin anonym the legend supplanted earlier and less homogenous
compilations and soon spread over whole Europę. Its main pictorial illustrations are
cited by Mrs Quinn5. It is to this group of representations that the Warsaw relief seems
to belong, sińce the Tree with the Infant Christ in it establishes connections with the third
vision of Seth.
The motif of a symbolical tree iii pictorial representations of the Annunciation may be
noticed sińce the 6th century. To this period, most probably,. an ivory plaque in Leningrad6
must be dated, which is the earhest, to my knowledge, example of such an insertion (fig. 3).
Mary is sitling on the left side, raising Her right hand to Gabriel, who approaches from the
right. In the background of the scenc the upper part of a tree is seen with three birds on its
branches. The number of birds brings to mind trinitarian associations and allows to see in the
tree something more than merely a landscape motif.
5. E. Casier Quinn, op. cii. p. 5.
6. La Colleclion- M.P. Bolkine, St Petersburg, 1911, fig on p. 14, pl. 55.; W.F. Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spdtanlike
und des friiheit Mittclallers, Mainz, 1952 (here unjustly referred to as the Annunciation to St Anne).
117