Ανάγλυφη εικόνα του Αγίου Δημητρίου από την Ομορφοκκλησιά Καστοριάς

Abstract

Amongst the devotional objects in the collection at Kastoria Museum there is a sizeable relief icon of St. Demetrius (cat. no. ΚΑΣ 20) (Plate 1). It is one of the few surviving examples of carved wooden icons, which at around the turnofthe20thcenturyservedasadoorbetweenthepronaosandthenaosof the Church of St. George at Omorphoklessia. It has been dated by earlier researchers to the period between the late 13th and early 14th century.

Certain iconographical features, however, such as the broad, oval face of the saint, the schematized ears and the shading around the eyes and the edges of the cheeks link the icon with works which are typical of the last quarter of the 14th century. Similar conclusions may be drawn from a stylistic and technical analysis of the rendering of the saint, such as the disproportion between the body and the head, and the sharpness of the lines used to convey the illumination of the cheeks.

On the basis of the above findings, and the discovery of at least five carved wooden icons in the Kastoria area, the article proposes that the icon should be redated to the final quarter of the 14th century and attributed to a local wood-carving workshop.