Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

22O Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. iv.
shows Virgin and Child surrounded by ten little
scenes curious but not fine work.
The sanctuary-screens at Al Mu'allakah are very
remarkable for their beauty. That of the northern
chapel resembles a screen at Abu-'s-Sifain, having
a design of squares with crosses at all the angles.
But the details vary. The body of the crosses is
alternately ivory and : ebony the ivory body is
framed in ebony bordered again with : ivory and
the ebony body is framed in ivory bordered again
by ebony. The squares are ebony
bordered with
ivory and enclose ivory octagons, which again enclose
ivory crosses set in ebony. But description
of such work is dangerous : it can convey little idea
of the clearness and splendour, while it retains all
the complexity, of the original.
The piers at either side of the central or haikal
screen are cased in deal, carved and set with a star-
and-tongue pattern in flat ivory. This is modern ;
but the haikal-screen itself is very old, and though
it has suffered some repairing, it remains a marvel
of art. The frame is ebony and rosewood, exquisitely
chased and set with beautiful designs in worked
ebony. The pattern is chiefly what I have called
star-and-tongue, a central many-branched star in
a ring of tongue-shaped plaques divided off by elaborate
mouldings. Above this screen, and above
the two side-screens also, is a delicate boarding set
with panels of chased ivory and very fine throughcarvings
of ebony. Similar work of equal skill and
beauty may be seen at Abu Sargah and Abu-'s-
Sifain.
The southern screen shows a cruciform pattern :
each cross is filled with carved ebony in an ivory