Tarasov's second book -- kovcheg

[Kent Russell]

At the Museum of Russian Icons we refer to kovcheg -the recessed are in an icon - as the container for the sacred (ark, vessel etc). This interpretation of the structural/formal system of an icon is taken and interpreted from Tarasov but also many texts that refer to the indentation or the interior of a framed part of the icon image as the locus for the sacred.

Kent dur Russell, Curator, Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton MA. museumofrussianicons.org

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of R. M. Cleminson
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 4:40 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Tarasov's second book -- kovcheg

Having glanced at the book, I suspect that the confusion is due to the polysemy of the Russian word ковчег.  Its primary meaning is, literally, "ark", and it is used both for Noah's ark (ὁ κιβωτός τοῦ Νῶε, Ноев ковчег) and for the Ark of the Covenant (ὁ κιβωτός τῆς διαθήκης, ковчег завета).  However, ковчег, like κιβωτός, regularly also refers to boxes of other kinds, and particularly to shrines and reliquaries.  Tarasov's point is that the margins of an icon can function as a container for the image - and, in that sense, as a ковчег.

This is what he means in one of the passages cited: “This is clearly seen if we take the example of the curtain or veil (a symbolic ‘frame’) of the sacred image. The medieval icon was veiled (in an ark or under cladding) in the same way that authentic existence or beauty were concealed and inaccessible to human imagination.” [51] (In Russian: "Это отчетливо видно на примере изменения функции завесы (символической «рамы») священного образа. Средневековая икона была скрыта за завесой (в ковчеге, в окладе) подобно тому, как истинное бытие и красота были скрыты и недоступны человеческому воображению." [55] I should say that I have never heard of an icon being completely enclosed in a shrine, as opposed to partially covered by the оклад.)  He makes the poi!
 nt explicitly, in respect of the mediaeval icon, on p.65 of the Russian edition: "раньше живописная рама играла роль ковчега-реликвария." He is thus using the word interpretatively or metaphorically, and not as part of standard terminology. 

Unfortunately this is completely lost in translation.

If that were not complicated enough, the Russian word кивот (but not ковчег) can also be used to mean a frame or container for an icon, i.e. something separate from the icon itself, in which the icon may be placed, frequently glazed and with a lamp attached.  I don't know whether the Greeks call this also κιβωτός.
_____________________________________________________________________

http://diplomovka.sme.sk - Odmenujeme vale diplomove prace.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------