Likhne, Murals of the Church of Dormition. First Layer
| Building: | Likhne, Church of Dormition |
| Layer of the Murals: | First Layer |
| Date/Period: | The end of 10th or the beginning of 11th century |
| Donor(s): | Supposedly Bagrat III, the king of Georgia (961-1014) |
| Painter(s): | Unknown |
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Inscription(s)
of the Donor(s)
of the Painter(s)
Description
Painting of the first layer has survived in the diaconicon of the church.
On the north wall of the south-east room, under the frontal figures of church fathers depicted in the arch in the second half of the 14th century, a wide ornamental frieze created by geometric and floral motifs could be observed. North of the window of the room there is an image of a middle-aged, black-bearded man with a halo, depicted in three-quarter view facing north. On the northern jamb of the only window of the room one can observe a figure of an elderly, white-bearded man with a transparent net-like headdress and a vertically outlined white explanatory asomtavruli inscription on his left: [Ⴜ(ႫႨႣႠ)Ⴢ] | ႦႠႵႠႰႨ – Saint Zacharia.
Dating
The monument is presently not available for research which complicates its dating; its photos remain unavailable too. Natalia Tolmachevskaya was the first to pay attention to the fragments of the early murals in the south-east room of the church; according to her, this painting must have been executed earlier than that of the 14th century, but she did not determine the accurate date (Natal’ja Tolmachevskaja, Freski drevnej gruzii [Frescoes of the Ancient Georgia] (Tbilisi, 1931), 21). In 1970, copies of the fragments of the painting (the two above-mentioned figures and the ornamental frieze) were made by Tatiana Sheviakova (Tatjana Shevjakova, “Nakhodka v Lykhny” [“Finding at Lykhne”], Molodyozh’ Gruzii [Youth of Georgia], 18.04.1972; Nino Chikhladze, Dzveli sak’art’velos monumenturi p’erts’era da misi moamageni [Old Georgian Monumental Painting and its Guardians] (Tbilisi, 2017), ill. 34-6); in the album published by her later, the tenth century is named as the conjectural period of creating the frescos (Tat’jana Shevjakova, Monumental’naja zhivopis’ rannego srednevekov’ja Gruzii [The Monumental Painting of the Early Medieval Georgia] (Tbilisi, 1983), pl. 104-6). In his monographs about the murals preserved on the territory of Abkhazia (Leonid Shervashidze, Nekotorye srednevekovye stennye rospisi na territorii Abkhazii [Several Medeival Wall Paintings on the Abkhazia Territory] (Tbilisi, 1971), 44-5, рис. 12, табл. XXIII; idem, Srednevekovaja monumental’naja zhivopis’ v Abkhazii [Medieval Monumental Painting in Abkhazia] (Tbilisi, 1980), 69, 71, 117–9, ill. 23–4, col. pl. 4I, pl. XX1.), Leonide Shervashidze dates the painting by the turn of the tenth-eleventh centuries, simultaneously with construction of the church. It was this date that was established for the painting of the first layer of the diaconicon of the church of Likhne. According to the explanatory inscription added to the image of St. Zacharia, Andrei Vinogradov and Denis Beletski consider it possible that the painting was executed in the period later than the accepted date (Andrei Vinogradov, Denis Beletskii, Tserkovnaya arkhitektura Abkhazii v epokhu Abkhazskogo tsarstva. Konets VIII-X v. [Church Architecture of Abkhazia in the Period of Abkhazian Kingdom. The end of 8th-10th c.] (Moscow, 2015), 202, no. 564).
Paleography of the inscription of St. Zacharia’s figure must be pointing to the second half of the tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh century; moreover, it must be easy to identify (at least through the painted copies by Tatiana Sheviakova) similarity of the figures depicted in the diaconicon with certain images of Tao-Klarjeti school of painting of the second half of the tenth century. The character of the ornamental frieze must also be pointing to these links. Consequently, until the fragments of the painting are properly investigated, it is quite possible to date the painting by the turn of the tenth-eleventh centuries and associate it with donor activities of King Bagrat III of Abkhazia (soon to become king of united Georgia).
Bibliography
Natal’ja Tolmachevskaja, Freski drevnej gruzii [Frescoes of the Ancient Georgia] (Tbilisi, 1931), 21.
Leonid Shervashidze, Nekotorye srednevekovye stennye rospisi na territorii Abkhazii [Several Medeival Wall Paintings on the Abkhazia Territory] (Tbilisi, 1972), 44–5, ill. 12, pl. XXIII.
Tatjana Shevjakova, “Nakhodka v Lykhny” [“Finding at Lykhne”], Molodyozh’ Gruzii [Youth of Georgia], 18.04.1972.
Leonid Shervashidze, Srednevekovaja monumental’naja zhivopis’ v Abkhazii [Medieval Monumental Painting in Abkhazia] (Tbilisi, 1980), 69, 71, 117–9, ill. 23–4, col. pl. 4I, pl. XX1.
Tat’jana Shevjakova, Monumental’naja zhivopis’ rannego srednevekov’ja Gruzii [The Monumental Painting of the Early Medieval Georgia] (Tbilisi, 1983), pl. 104–6.
Andrei Vinogradov, Denis Beletskii, Tserkovnaya arkhitektura Abkhazii v epokhu Abkhazskogo tsarstva. Konets VIII-X v. [Church Architecture of Abkhazia in the Period of Abkhazian Kingdom. The end of 8th-10th c.] (Moscow, 2015), 202, no. 564.
Nino Chikhladze, Dzveli sak’art’velos monumenturi p’erts’era da misi moamageni [Old Georgian Monumental Painting and its Guardians] (Tbilisi, 2017), ill. 34–6.