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Pazaras Nikos,
Palaeologan embroidered epitaphios from the Holy Monastery of Xeropotamou on Mount Athos
The treasury of the Xeropotamou Monastery on Mount Athos preserves an embroidered epitaphios, measuring 154 x 102 cm. This "supreme veil", as Theodore Studitis called it, depicts, as usual, the Lamentation of Christ, flanked by two angels, each one dressed in deacon's garb and carrying a rhipidion, while the symbols of the Evangelists are inscribed within four quadrants in the corners of the fabric. The background is decorated with crosses within circles and colorful floral motives. All themes have been rendered with gold, silver, silk and cotton threads, stitched upon a red silk canvas. The epitaphios of the Xeropotamou Monastery consists a typical example of the so called "liturgical" type, which focuses on the symbolic representation of Jesus as the sacrificed Lamb, thus omitting the usual mourning figures of the Lamentation. The representation of the theme bears strong resemblance to the corresponding iconography of similar veils, such as the alleged imperial epitaphios of Andronicus II Palaeologus from St Clement's church in Ohrid, as well as epitaphioi kept in the Monastery of Backovo in Bulgaria and St Mark's basilica in Venice. In terms of style and technique, the embroidery stands out for its' high artistic quality, considering virtues such as the perfect balance of the composition, the preciseness of the design, the rendering of Jesus' idealized figure, the bright and colorful palette. All in all, the Xeropotamou epitaphios is associated by its' iconography, style and technique with a group of similar artifacts, fabricated by famous Constantinopolitan workshops at the end of 13th-beginning of the 14th century, during the so called era of the Paleologan Renaissance.
