Ethiopian Triptych with Crucifixion and Scenes from the Life of Christ. 1680-1700 AD. A wooden icon with recessed central panel and two folding doors, a red painted cross on the right one; central panel with crucifixion scene with robed Mary and John the Evangelist, two crucified thieves to the rear; left door with nude Adam and Eve reaching up to the Resurrection of Christ, beneath them Christ carrying the cross; right door with Christ apprehended in the garden of Gethsemane with Christ entombed beneath; Ethiopian Ge'ez script legends.See Chojnacki, S., Major Themes in Ethiopian Painting, indigenous developments, the influence of foreign models and their adaptation, from the 13th to the 19th century, Wiesbaden, 1983, pp.172ff, fig.162, for a painting style of late 17th century, early 18th century.190 grams, 33cm (13"). Ex central London gallery; previously in a UK private collection, in the 1990s.Representations of the Virgin Mary are among the most important iconographic themes in Ethiopian painting, and they stand as a testimony to the fundamental theological, devotional and symbolic role the mother of God has played in the construction of Ethiopian religious beliefs, identity and cultural memory. The main representations are the Nativity, and the presence of Mary at the Crucifixion. [No Reserve]