Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa166-2-13
Title The Theme of Vintage in the Pictorial Traditions of Late Antiquity, Early Christianity, and in the Art of Sasanian Iran.
Author email mikalil@mail.ru
About author Mikayelyan, Lilit Shavarsh — assistant professor. Yerevan State University (YSU), Alex Manoogian Str. 1, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia.
In the section Eastern Christian Art DOI10.18688/aa166-2-13
Year 2016 Volume 6 Pages 124132
Type of article RAR Index UDK 7.033.1/ 7.032(37)’04/ 7.032(355) Index BBK 85.14
Abstract

There are a number of themes in Late Antique and Early Christian art, which are also known in the art of Sasanian Iran. Among them is the scene of grape harvest. The study and comparative analysis of the given theme in the context of three above mentioned cultural traditions have not received a necessary attention among the researchers; therefore it needs a special investigation.

Scenes of grape harvest first appeared in ancient art and were connected with the cult of Dionysus. In the Late Antique and Early Christian periods they were often depicted on the pavement and wall mosaics of Rome and East Roman provinces, as well as on the marble sarcophagus. In Christian tradition, the scenes of grape harvest were reinterpreted according to the Christian symbolic traditions, where wine became the symbol of the atonement and the sacrament of the Eucharist.

In Early Medieval Armenian art the theme of “grape harvest” is known from the 6th–7th centuries’ relief from Dvin, and the facade of the Church of St. Cross in Akhtamar (10th century). In the art of Sasanian Iran, it is found on silver vessels and dishes of the 6th–7th centuries. In these scenes, as well as in Early Christian mosaics, the brunches of grapes are of huge sizes; they are often half height of human and animal gures. is iconographic detail which is common both for Sasanian Iran and for Christian monuments underlines the allegorical character of the scenes which were based on the symbolic image of the Heavenly Paradise.

Keywords
Reference Lilit Mikayelyan. The Theme of Vintage in the Pictorial Traditions of Late Antiquity, Early Christianity, and in the Art of Sasanian Iran.. Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 6. Eds: Anna V. Zakharova, Svetlana V. Maltseva, Ekaterina Yu. Stanyukovich-Denisova. St. Petersburg, NP-Print Publ., 2016, pp. 124–132. ISSN 2312-2129. http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa166-2-13
Publication Article language russian
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