Local traditions are employed in tandem with more widespread ornamental forms in Late Antique church decoration. For the fifth-century cathedral at Hermopolis Magna blocks from earlier local structures were reused within the foundation, but visible ornamental features of the capitals were in the Graeco-Roman tradition, including red-granite columns reused in the nave and limestone Corinthan capitals carved in up-to-date forms as found in cities of Greece, Italy, as well as in the capital city of Constantinople. In the round church at Pelusium Proconnesian marble capitals combining small Ionic volute scrolls and finely carved acanthus undercut to create densely shadowed surfaces appear to be imports from Constantinople (Grossmann 2007: 122). From the Monastery of Apa Jeremias locally developed forms, such as palm or lotus capitals, were used alongside Corinthian and other forms of the GraecoRoman repertory. Here, however, the capitals preserve painted details, such as shadows and veining in leaves, and a great deal of strong color, the application of which was not restricted to naturalistic patterns (McKenzie 2007: 308, figs 516-17). Other richly carved features include, for example, doors, cornices, and chancel barriers of stone and wood, often bearing traces of polychromy (Thomas 1989).
Glass ornamenting architectural settings could be used to similar extra-ordinary effect. The inlaid glass (called intarsia, in which flat pieces of a colored material are pieced together to form a larger composition) of the fourth century, now in the Corning Museum of Glass (plate 33), is an example of virtuoso craftsmanship in which all motifs are defined by their lustrous colors and the precisely formed shapes of their glass pieces (Auth 2007). Clearly, each piece was made to order for this commission. At the center of this fragmentary panel is preserved part of the head in profile of a figure identified by inscription as ‘‘Thomas.’’ The proximity of the large, yellow letters of the inscription to the more diminutive scale of the pinkish-beige figure make all the more striking the delicate intricacy of the small and precisely shaped pieces of glass fitted together to form the curving black lines of his intently focused, deeply set brown eye below the arching line of his furrowed brow, each distinct whirled lock of purple and white in his beard, and the streaked locks of hair on his head. Interestingly, the use of colors for the figure is more vibrant and forceful than the sensitively rendered lines of the drawing of the figure.
There is no evidence for the original size of this panel when it was complete (currently 79 inches long) or the extent of the overall composition to which it belonged, but, even as a fragment, this panel provides a glimpse of Late Antique interest in playful alternation between two - and three-dimensional spatiality. The solidity of the wall behind this compelling vision of the cross was made to disappear, effectively nullified by the shining, colorful surface of the glass inlay and by the fictive architecture (framing what would have been a symmetrical composition). Deliberate spatial indeterminacy is enhanced by the deep light-absorbing blue of the background, between, on the right, the shimmering gold cross (crux monogrammata) of comparatively large and simply cut pieces of glass within a medallion of a thin red band between thicker, bright yellow bands and, on the left, an Ionic column capital with red and white scrolled volutes flanking short vertical lines of red, yellow, and green. The remaining capital does not quite meet (and, therefore, does not support what appears to be) an entablature, represented by straight bands all along the top of the panel: from bottom to top, white, red, yellow, brown, white, and red. Comparison to an example of opus sectile (in which flat pieces of colored stones are cut into shapes for inlay in designs) at Abu Mina, in the pavement for the tomb church (McKenzie 2007: 291, fig. 484), of similar composition illustrates how skilfully the glass artist manipulated light and dark, contrasting and related colors, and variations in brightness and lustre.
In contrast to the inlay work described above, the technique of mosaic uses stone and glass pieces ( tesserae) of fairly uniform square shape and small size to achieve a similar effect. Wall and ceiling mosaics, which began to flourish in the fourth century, the best-known architectural use of glass during Late Antiquity, are rarely attested in Egyptian monuments. Gold glass tesserae in the tomb church at Abu Mina suggest that the sixth-century dome was covered in mosaic work. The only completely preserved composition is found in the Justinianic church on Mount Sinai, in the apse and extending up the eastern wall (Nelson 2006: 24, fig. 31). Medallions frame the apse. Most contain bust-length portraits of apostles and prophets, but the central medallion above Christ’s head contains a haloed cross, and portraits of contemporary figures are placed at crucial points: Justinian at the center of the lower border and, anchoring the two corners, portraits of contempory local leaders of the church and monastery, John the Deacon and Longinus the Abbot. Within the apse is a glowing scene of the Transfiguration of Christ: the vision witnessed by the apostles Peter, John, and James on Mount Tabor just prior to the Crucifixion. The transfigured Christ is revealed in his divinity, conversing with Moses and Elijah, two prophets associated with revelations of God on Mount Sinai. Multiple elements of this extended composition connect the ongoing local monastic tradition to the Biblical history of the site and link epiphanies at the site to the apostles’ epiphany on Mount Tabor and, indeed, to epiphanic experience. As concerns the sacrament of communion, for example, the faithful understood the Holy Spirit was a real presence in the church, and that the consecrated offerings of bread and wine were mystically transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Portrayals of Christ in the sanctuary confirmed these beliefs visually.
An important, long-term conservation program at the Coptic monastic church of Apa Bishay in Sohag has revealed several layers of wall painting in the northern lobe of
Figure 45.11 Sohag, Church of the Red Monastery, view into northern lobe of sanctuary. Three layers of paintings dating between late fifth or sixth century and c.800 ad. Photograph taken after completion of conservation except in sections of the ground floor and clerestory. Photograph Patrick Godeau; © American Research Center in Egypt. The Red Monastery Conservation Project was carried out by the American Research Center in Egypt with funding from the United States Agency for International Development in collaboration with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The sanctuary (Bolman 2006a). Originally all of the sanctuary was painted: niches, architectural ornament, and walls. Inhabiting the middle zone of niches in the northern lobe is a Shenoutian monastic portrait gallery, reminding the monastic audience of their lineage and of the salvation to be gained by remembering their forefathers and following their examples (figure 45.11). In the apse above is an image of the mother of God nursing the infant Christ, again a Eucharistic reference but with a very different presentation of the Christ’s human and divine nature and, therefore, the nature of his sacrifice for the salvation of humankind. This integrated scheme of polychromed architectural sculpture and painted walls included in the apse fictive architectural elements - painted columns and arches - building an elaborate architectural fantasy and extending the pictorial space behind the picture plane of the actual space of the apse.
The fragmentary remains of wall paintings in the later sixth-century church at Karm el-Ahbariya, just a few kilometers from Abu Mina, provide fascinating glimpse of
Continuing interest in the emperor Constantine as a heroic figure, expanding upon a fourth-century biography (Witte-Orr 1993) with narrative scenes on the west wall emphasizing the role of the cross in Constantine’s life. The Flight into Egypt and other narrative scenes from the life of Christ covered the south, west, and north walls. On the north and south walls were represented Old Testament prophets and saints.
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