A few words about history
After the end of the persecutions the art of hagiography is free and starts to take form and direction. The 4th century A.D. when Christianity prevails (the beginnings of the Byzantium) is the first important milestone in Byzantine art. Saint Helen with the revelation of the holy cross brings to light the first artworks of the early Christian period, hagiographic themes are enriched through the holy books and hagiography becomes an official art form of the Byzantine state and is named Byzantine art.
Byzantine people have always loved the luxurious fabrics that were produced in the workshops of the palace for the court and church, they were considered by law as equal to gold and their export was prohibited, that is why production and trade was under strict control. Often, these precious vestments were donated to decorate the most holy part of the temple, the altar. For big celebrations, the prefect undertook the decoration of the city with those precious vestments that he borrowed from the palace and great temples.
Exposed during festive days on the facades of public buildings, these artworks added the shine of their gold and silver wires to the magnificence of the Byzantine ceremonies. The fine materials, fires, habit of melting gold for exchange, wars and persecutions obliterated those masterpieces of Byzantine miniaturisation. Those that survived to the present day are the church vestments that are preserved in the treasuries of the west, at Balkan monasteries and at the Holy Mountain.
The study of church golden embroidery presents a great interest. The works embroidered with gold reveal an art adequate in design and work and a grace that stems from the transcription of traditional religious themes on fabric, however nothing is known about the possible cooperation of painters and embroiderers. One observes in surprise the vividness the embroiderer gives to the artworks. Specialised embroiderers true artists ”painters of the needle” as revealed in the texts, seem to be inspired by hagiography and portable icons and there are times when the composition of an epitrachelion, with the orison and the prelates in array is worthy of a church arch.
The iconographic representations of the vestments are materialised by the hand of the embroiderer with the golden thread and the needle, so all these artworks thanks to the gold that shines everywhere through the colours rule out the competition with painting, it is mostly in the work of the goldsmith that one should seek out the parallel to these needleworks with the shiny streaks and the light relief.
Nowadays, with technological development and the use of electronic means ΑTHO ltd carries on the tradition of this Byzantine art by creating designs and representations faithful copies to the traditional.
With esteem for Κ.Ε. ΑTHO ltd
Eleni Sedoukari
Designer – Developer