EthiopicManuscriptArt
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artethiopic.bsky.social
EthiopicManuscriptArt
@artethiopic.bsky.social
1.5K followers 140 following 330 posts
Lover of birds and beards || መፍቀሬ፡ ሥዕላት፡ || Ground Hornbill Artist fan || descriptions are sometimes silly || no politics, just love

"ሠዐሉ፡ ለነ፡ ቅዱሳን፡"
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artethiopic.bsky.social
"Let me just purify your lips with this piece of blazing coal real quick" 🔥

Ethiopia, 18th c. #ezekiel #prophet #michael #archangel #coal #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of how the archangel Michael purified with lips of Ezekiel with a burning coal held with a pair of tongs. Ezekiel looks skeptically at the coal.
October 15, 2025 at 7:38 AM
artethiopic.bsky.social
Ethiopian and Eritrean depictions of the flight to Egypt frequently include Salome, the midwife who was present at Christ's birth, carrying a mesob (መሶብ፡), a basked for storing injera 🇪🇹🇪🇷

Ethiopia, 18th c. (?) #StMary #BabyJesus #joseph #salome #injera #mesob #africanart
The Holy Family fleeing to Egypt. The illumination is painted in bright colors with the background mainly in yellow.
October 4, 2025 at 8:47 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
The fear of the demons! 🤺

Ethiopia, 19th c. (?) #angel #sword #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of an angel with multi-eyed wings and a massive sword in his hand.
September 17, 2025 at 6:22 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
Young Christ hanging out with his homies

Ethiopia, 18th c. #JesusChrist #YoungChrist #friendship #africanyouth #africanart
Ethiopian manuscript depiction of a story about Christ’s childhood. Young Christ is standing on the rights side dressed in a green garment wearing a large halo. On the left side, three other young boys are standing.
September 3, 2025 at 6:22 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"What are you staring at?" 🦁

Ethiopia, unknown date (16th c.?) #lion #saint #mural #africanart
Ethiopian mural depicting an unidentified saint riding a lion. The lion looks straight at the viewer, whereas the saint looks to the right.
September 2, 2025 at 6:17 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"Keep slaying, queens! 👑"

Ethiopia, 18th c. (?) #StMary #queen #crown #africanart
Ethiopian closeup of Saint Mary wearing a crown.
August 27, 2025 at 7:11 AM
artethiopic.bsky.social
St Samuel of Waldǝbbā on a deep purple background hits hard 🦁

Ethiopia, 19th c. #saint #samuel #waldebba #lion #ethiopiansaint #africansaint #africanart
The Ethiopian saint Samuel of Waldebba riding a lion while carrying a hand cross and a prayer staff.
August 18, 2025 at 5:45 AM
artethiopic.bsky.social
ከመ፡ ፍሕሶ፡ ቀይሕ፡ ከናፍርኪ፡ ጽጌ፨
ስዉጠ፡ ስርናይ፡ ከርሥኪ፡ ወሕፁር፡ በጽጌ፨

"Like a scarlet thread are your lips, O Flower
– your belly is a heap of wheat, surrounded by flowers!" 💐

Ethiopia, 19th–20th c. #StMary #BabyJesus #icon #geez #africanart
Ethiopian icon depicting the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus on Her lap. Behind them, Joseph and Salome are standing. Salome offers a flower to Saint Mary. The icon is painted in bright colors, red, blue, yellow, green and white. It has captions in white identifying the depicted persons.
August 10, 2025 at 5:55 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"Just checking in…"

Ethiopia, 18th c. #StMary #bishop #africanart
Saint Mary on a cloud carried by angels visiting a bishop. The bishop wears a bishop’s crown and a red garment.
August 5, 2025 at 9:35 AM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"OMG!" 🫢

Ethiopia, 15th c. #luke #evangelist #gospel #scribe #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of Saint Luke the Evangelist. He is shown as a scribe with a sheet of parchment containing the beginning of his Gospel in Classical Ethiopic in front of him. His hand is placed in front of his mouth as if in surprise.
August 4, 2025 at 10:15 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
*hihihi* 😊

Ethiopia, 16th c. #saint #apostle #jacob #matthias #africanart
The apostles Jacob, son of Alphaeus, and Mathias covering their mouths, as if laughing.
July 24, 2025 at 7:36 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
One thing I love about Ethiopian-Eritrean art is the unexpected details that sometimes appear. In this baptism scene, for example, half the space is filled by trees with the caption "How branches overshadowed (the River) Jordan" 🌿

Ethiopia, AD 1400/1401 #JesusChrist #baptism #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. On both their sides, angels are standing, pointing at the scene. Above them are green branches.
July 22, 2025 at 9:17 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
Have you heard about the nun Sophia who got pregnant, and then St Mary sent angels to remove the baby from the nun's womb before she was punished?

(Don't worry, the baby got a good new home 👶🏾)

Ethiopia, 18th c. #StMary #nun #baby #angel #miraclesofmary #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of the story about the nun Sophia. Sophia is sleeping in the middle of the image, an angel is lifting a small baby from her belly. On the right, Saint Mary and Baby Jesus are watching.
July 19, 2025 at 8:36 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
It takes a special kind of trust to lie there calmly with your prayer rope when St Michael the Archangel starts wielding his sword… ⚔️

Ethiopia, 19th c. (?) #michael #archangel #patron #sword #prayerrope #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of Saint Michael the archangel wielding a sword. At his feet, a patron dressed in white with a prayer rope in his hand is lying.
July 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"Who's a good boy?! 😀🦮"

Ethiopia, 18th c. #StMary #dog #goodboy #twitterdogs #miraclesofmary #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of Saint Mary giving a dog water to drink from her shoe. She is dressed in red and dark blue and sits on a pink cloud together with two angels.
July 7, 2025 at 6:39 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
✌🏾

Ethiopia, 18th c. (?) #StMary #VirginMary #sick #blessing #africanart
Saint Mary sitting on the floor next to a sick person, blessing him or her. The sick person is lying under a green blanket with red flowers on it. Saint Mary is wearing a red garment with a blue cape over it.
July 5, 2025 at 2:04 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"Please, take off your shoes, Sir"

Ethiopia, 19th c. (?) #moses #michael #burningbush #archangel #barefoot #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of Moses and the Burning Bush. Moses is standing on the left, barefoot and leaning on a staff. His shoes stand next to him. Next to him is the Burning Bush, shown as a tree with red and green branches. On the right, Saint Michael the Archangel is standing, towering over Moses, holding a sword, and pointing at Moses’s shoes.
June 27, 2025 at 9:55 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
Birds kissing on a heart-shaped leaf 💚🌿

Ethiopia, 14th c. #birds #twitterbirds #kiss #africanart
Detail from an Ethiopian arch decorating the Canon Tables. It shows two birds seated on a heart-shaped green leaf on top of a twig. Their beaks touch as if kissing.
June 25, 2025 at 3:33 AM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"We've got our eyes on you, pal"

Ethiopia, 18th c. #StMary #VirginMary #BabyJesus #icon #africanart
Ethiopian icon on wood depicting the Virgin Mary holding a naked Baby Jesus in her arms. They both look with big eyes at the observer of the icon.
June 22, 2025 at 7:51 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
Fun fact: The Ge'ez word ሐመር፡ (ḥamar), "ship" is possibly related to Arabic حمار (ḥimār), Hebrew חמור (ḥămôr), and Syriac ܚܡܪܐ (ḥmārā), which all mean "donkey". Are ships the "donkeys of the ocean"? 🌊

‎Ethiopia, 18th c. (?) ⁦‪#ship‬⁩ ⁦‪#donkey #ocean‬⁩ ⁦‪#etymology‬⁩ ⁦‪#geez‬⁩ ⁦‪#africanart‬⁩
Ethiopian depiction of people on a brownish boat on the middle of a blue ocean with white foam details.
June 13, 2025 at 9:25 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"The things we do for love…"

Ethiopia, 18th c. #JesusChrist #savior #crownofthorns #kweratareesu #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of Christ’s crowning with a crown of thorns. He is shown holding up his pierced hands, while two soldiers hammer nails into his head.
June 5, 2025 at 10:49 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"I'm gonna show you the deadliest karate moves" 🥋

Ethiopia, 15th c. #paul #saint #apostle #karate #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of Saint Paul the Apostle. He wears a red and blue garment and lifts his hands in a way that is reminiscent of a practitioner of martial arts.
June 1, 2025 at 6:50 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
ነአምን፡ ሕማሞ፡ ለዘኢየሐምም፡ ተገምረ፡ ዘኢይትገመር፡ ኃጢኣተነ፡ ነሥአ፡ ዘአልቦ፡ ኃጢኣት፡ ዓርገ፡ ወልድ፡ በስብሐት፡ ውስተ፡ ሰማያት፨

Ethiopia, 15th c. #JesusChrist #ascension #yared #geez #africanart
Ethiopian depiction of the Ascension of Christ in a circle carried by the Four living Creatures. The background is red. Below, Saint Mary and the Apostles are standing gazing into the sky. On the right and left of the Apostles, a text in Classical Ethiopic describes the scene.
May 30, 2025 at 6:51 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
Baby Jesus playing Simeon the God-Receiver's beard 👴🏽

Ethiopia, 19th c. #BabyJesus #simeon #beard #beardedmen #mural #africanart
Detail from an Ethiopian mural depicting Simeon the God-Receiver holding Baby Jesus while Baby Jesus grabs his beard.
May 26, 2025 at 5:57 PM
artethiopic.bsky.social
"People say I'm here just to fill up the blank space, but I think there must be a deeper meaning to my existence…"

Ethiopia, 18th c. (?) #humanoid #geez #ethiopianmanuscript #africanart
Page from a manuscript written in Classical Ethiopic. In the bottom right corner, a simple cute humanoid consisting of two triangles with eyes has been drawn.
May 25, 2025 at 8:03 AM