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[ENLUMINATION] Moses depicted full-length, with the "stones …
See original version (French)
[ENLUMINATION] Moses depicted full-length, with the "stones …
See original version (French)
Lot no. 19
[ENLUMINATION]
Moses depicted full-length, with the "stones of the Jordan" on his tunic.
Folio from an unidentified work.
France, circa 1600 ?
Dimensions: 200 x 150 mm
Inscription on the front (writing dating from the 17th century): "Moyse on whose tunic the stones of the Jordan taken by the people of Israel are marked". Inscribed on the reverse: "Moses marked on his tunic the stones of the Jordan which were removed by the people of Israel".
Moses is commonly depicted holding the tablets of the law. In addition to the inscription, the prophet is identified here by his horns: Saint Jerome's Vulgate describes him as cornatus, "horned". In this leaflet, an unusual iconography shows split stones (a priori represented as broken tablets) on Moses' tunic. We count 20 of them. Could this be a multiple of 10 (for the 10 commandments, each tablet representing a commandment, a reminder of the decalogue?) Despite the legend relating to the episode of the "twelve stones of the Jordan", there are not 12 stones on Moses' tunic, nor even a multiple of 12 (24).
This iconography takes up a passage from Joshua, 4, 1-24. When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua: "Take twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe. Give them this order: take twelve stones from here, from the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests stood firm, and take them with you to the place where you will spend the night". Joshua drew twelve stones from the Jordan and set them up in Gilgal, in a circle around the altar of God and the Ark of the Covenant, to celebrate the "First Passover" in the Promised Land. The twelve stones of the Jordan refer to the twelve stelae that Moses set up on Mount Sinai when he instituted the covenant between the Word of God and the children of Israel, symbolising the 12 tribes.
It is likely that this painted figure is reminiscent of a pious or peddling engraving or image, of which there were many in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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