FROM THE STORAGE – WORKS OF ART YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE

According to the iconographic tradition settled in the late Middle Ages, the birth of Mary is an intimate scene of the mother in childbirth, the infant and the female helpers. For those who study the history of lifestyle, it is a particularly exciting depiction: the room, the birth bed, the equipment of bathing, the swaddling clothes and often the cradle and the food offered to the mother are all part of the composition. It is an emphatically female world, the infant and the women around her who are watching over her are in the focus. The objects and the methods of infant care are mostly reminiscent of the time when the work of art was created but archaic references are also often found. 

 The iconostasis disassembled in the Greek Catholic church of Magyarkomját in Ugocsa County, was transferred to Budapest in 1913 and became a part of a public collection. The scene of the birth of Mary in the ceremonial series also partly reflects the material world and customs of its era, the 18th century. Anne, Mary’s mother, is lying in her canopy bed in a room built of brick, leaning her back against a huge pillow which is in a patterned pillowcase, her body is covered with a soft blanket. The bed surrounded by a curtain, which was very common in the rich peasant lifestyle of the market towns in this era, served as a comfortable and safe resting place for a long (even up to 6 weeks) post-natal period. In the centre of the icon, a woman, wearing a fashionable dress, swaddles the infant Mary in white linen. Next to them, there are a tin jug and copper basin used for the first bath. From the 18th century scene, we are “transported back” to the biblical era to Jerusalem when we notice the clothing of Joachim, the father, who is sitting in the background and the clothing of the other woman. 

The pictures of the iconostasis from Magyarkomját were brought to life during the recent restoration, revealing tiny details of the icons painted on the wood. The selected pieces, including the icon of the birth of Mary/the birth of the mother of God, will be on display for the first time.  

Sedlmayr Krisztina, museologist