Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (19.2019)

the works inserted in them are treated as relics, which emphasize the continuity
of the monastery’s tradition. In the case of Cypriot works, it is worth noting
the dialogue between the older and the newer parts, expressed in the form
of a repetition of iconography - the frame (i.e. the reliquary) repeats the ap-
pearance of the inserted element (i.e. the relics).69 Another noteworthy exam-
ple is the composite icon from Amirou. It was equipped with a door, enabling
grading the accessibility to the holy image. The attempt to cover the inserted
object could have been inspired by some other representation with relics, such
as the icon from the church of Panagia Chrysaliotissa in Lagia, which features
a recess niche to hołd the relics, hidden behind a smali door (see: Figurę 28).70
In contrast to the example from Amirou, the image inserted in the composite
icon from Vlatadon is not hidden; nevertheless, a certain analogy may be seen
in the repetition of an older composition, namely copying the figurę of Pan-
tocrator between the archangels. Another similarity is placing the older image
in the centre, which creates a sense of uniqueness and importance of the object
inside, despite its smaller size, just as the precious frames and revetments empha-
sized the framed work, its lower materiał value notwithstanding.71 As described
above, most composite icons reveal a strong desire to mark aesthetic diversity.
The relationship between the frame and the framed element appears dynamie;
similarly, the reliquary is used to enhance the presentation, and the goal is not so
much protection as drawing attention to the relic.72 The very act of insertion has
the hallmarks of consecration, expressed as reinforcing the attractiveness of the
image, which confirms its public status.73 The larger icon takes the form of an
extended frame that also separates the element symbolically or conceptually - as
the border between the sacred and the profane. It protects the materiał substance
of the image, while at the same time creating an aura of holiness, through its very
form, rendering the image hidden, distant, or amplified.
Icon from the Vlatadon monastery as relic
As already mentioned, the Vlatadon monastery was originally dedicated to Christ
Pantocrator. Monastery sources also speak of the Virgin Mary denomination,
which A. Tourta linked with the results of archaeological research, indicating
the construction of a fourteenth-century katholikon to replace an earlier build-
ing.74 She suggested that the old tempie was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and
IIoKJiOHeHue u deMoucmpau,uxpenuKouu Ha mamę: uKOHoepafunecKaa u numypzuuecKaa. ocuooa
oópasa, pp. 71-112.
69 For discussion of the relationship between the relics and the reliąuaries, see: C. Hahn, Metaphor
and Meaning in Early Medieval Reliąuaries, in: Seeing the Invisible in Late Antiąuity and the Early
Middle Ages, edited by G. de Nie, K. Morrison, Turnhout 2005, pp. 239-264; eadem, What Do
Reliąuaries Do for Relics?, “Numen”, 57,2010, no. 3/4, pp. 284-316.
70 D. Talbot Rice, The Icons of Cyprus, London 1937, pp. 223-224, no. 52.
71 L. Brubaker, The Sacred Image, in: The Sacred Image East and West, p. 12; on the role of cladding
see: J. Durand, Precious-Metal Icon Revetments, in: Byzantium: Faith, pp. 243-257.
72 On the relic being defined by the reliąuary, see: H.A. Klein,Materiality and the Sacred, Byzantine
Reliąuaries and the Rhetoric of Enshrinement, in: Saints and Sacred Matter: The Cult of Relics
in Byzantium and Beyond, edited by C. Hahn, H.A. Klein, Washington D.C. 2015, p. 235.
73 On the role of frames and decoration as consecration, see: D. Freedberg, Potęga wizerunków.
Studia z historii i teorii oddziaływania, translated by E. Klekot, Kraków 2005, pp. 119-121.
74 X. Mai)poiroiAoi)-Totovpq, n. ®eoóa)piór|ą, Móvą Bkacddaw, Nća awiyela, in: Aetnepo Eoąnócno
Bv^avrivf]ą Kai METafv^avrivf]ą Apyaiokoyiaą Kai Tćyvąę, A0ąva 1982, pp. 100-102.


Figurę 26. Cuenca Diptych,
Meteora or Constantino-
ple (?), 1382-1384, Diocesan
Museum in Cuenca. Photo
from Byzantium: Faith and
Power, p. 53, no. 24 C
->see p. 19

Figurę 27. Mosaic icon of
Saints John Chrysostom,
Basil the Great, Nicholas the
Miracle Worker, and Gregory
the Theologian in the frame
with relics, fourteenth (?)
century, State Hermitage
Museum (W-1125). Photo
from Byzantium: Faith and
Power, p. 225, no. 134
->see p. 19
Figurę 28. Hodegetria,
sixteenth century, Panagia
Chrysaliotissa, Lagia, Cy-
prus. Photo from D. Talbot
Rice, The Icons of Cyprus,
London 1937, no. 52
->see p. 20

The composite icon at Vlatadon monastery in Thessaloniki...

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