Icon of Christ and Abbot Mena

Icon of Christ and Abbot Mena

Icon of Christ and Abbot Mena, 8th century, Coptic, Bawit (Egypt), paint on sycamore fig wood, 57 x 57 cm, Paris, The Louvre.

Museum information: “This exceptional painting on wood comes from the monastery of Bawit in Middle Egypt. Dated to the 8th century, it represents Christ (easily recognizable by his halo with a cross) and Abbot Mena, the superior of the monastery at the time. The abbot holds a scroll in his left hand; this may have contained the rules of his monastery.”

Text (in translation):
At left, beside Abbot Mena: “"Apa Mena superior”
At right, beside Christ: “Savior”

https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/christ-and-abbot-mena

Musée du Louvre. E 11565