Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

54 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. n.
martyr is represented as winged elsewhere, and no
angel has a beard. He is standing in a lonely desert-
looking place he
on a little hill :
bends forward to
his right and carries in his left hand an open scroll :
over his left shoulder slopes a long staff with a cross-
piece and a flag : his right hand is uplifted
in bene-
diction or possibly in preaching. In the background
is a rude tree with an '
axe laid to the root/ or rather
balanced across a division in the trunk near the
ground. I tried from every side and every point of
vantage steps and bench and pulpit to distinguish
the dim Arabic title, but I could not make out a
letter. The attendants of course knew nothing of
this or any other picture, and could only tell me that
it was
'
Christ.' The probability is that it represents
John the Baptist, and was painted by some
artist not familiar with all the conventions of such
art. Indeed there is an absence of convention in the
whole series.
6. Christ bearing the cross.
7. Virgin and Child. The Virgin, a half-length
figure, is carrying on her left arm the child, who looks
like a girl of twelve : he is
fully robed, his right hand
is outstretched, and in his left is a golden book with
a cross upon the cover. Above are two angels each
holding one end of a flying scroll, which forms an
arch above the Virgin's head.
Next to these, in the same line but not in the
same series, follow three pictures in mushrabiah
framework :
1. St. Irene.
2. Anba Sarabamun, who is robed as a patriarch
with a gold cross in his right hand, in his left a book
and pastoral staff. The crozier, as depicted here