Carved wooden cross with stepped base and gilded binding, year 1674

A carved wooden cross (height 30,5 cm), the core of which is decorated in the center of the two sides with the scenes of the Crucifixion and the Nativity, framed by the multifaceted scenes of the Twelve. Its binding was made of gilded silver. The winding shoots and the three-petaled anthemions, which are filled with niello in places, correspond to the style of the new floral baroque that prevails in the works of Constantinople. The cross rests on a carved wooden hexagonal base, consisting of three levels, on which, under archways, martyrs, hierarchs and saints are represented. This particular type is known to us from the so-called Lascaris crosses, which date back to the 16th century and are stylistically linked to the workshops of the Venetian-occupied Greek area. According to the dedicatory inscription on the base lining, the elaborate cross was made in 1674 with the assistance of the previous abbot Christopher, when he was abbot of the Golia Monastery. The strong similarities in the decoration of its lining with that of the cross that was crafted at the expense of the great logothete at the court of Moldavia, Nicolaus Buchosi, and his Greek wife Anna, indicate that they were made by the same goldsmith.