Hand Cross

By design, the long-handled cross is a seven-pointed cross with an elongated middle cross. The work is characterised by a simple and laconic plastic and compositional interpretation of iconographic images that occupy the most important part of the work on both sides – the central frame and the main surface of the stem. On the front, the folk artist has carved the Crucifixion in the Western iconographic tradition. In the good-natured manner typical of folk artists, the disproportionate, squat body of the saint with a fat head surrounded by a halo is reproduced. Two waist-length human figures in relief are at the ends of the central frame. Above the crucifixion is a traditional title with the inscription "INRI". The horizontal planes of the upper and lower frames are separated from the overall composition. They are framed along the outline by a narrow, smooth band, near the centre of which is a wave-shaped ornament. The central part of the upper part is filled with letters, and the lower part has parallel vertical grooves. On the back is a carved frontal image of the Virgin Mary and Child Christ wearing crowns, surrounded on three sides by stars. The lower and upper frames are identical to those on the front. The deep undercut around the figures gives the relief a three-dimensional appearance. Along the contour, all the ends of the seven-pointed cross are framed by a solid, smooth line. According to the interpretation based on the research of M. Stankevych, the liturgical object belongs to the works of folk artists with pronounced signs of "primitivism".

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery