The St George Portable Triptych in the Gozo Cathedral Museum

Mario Buhagiar and Charles Cassar attempt to decipher the curious iconography and possible origins of a unique devotional artefact

The principal objective of this paper is to bring to public notice a long-forgotten and unstudied artefact in the Gozo Cathedral Museum: a small brass portable triptych, 500mm x 930mm, contained, when closed, in a protective brass sleevebox, 580 x 580mm, with a low relief of a mounted St George fighting the dragon (Fig. 1). It is the only known example in Malta of a typology of portable triptychs which, in Eastern Christianity and particularly in Russia, persisted in firmly established devotional demand from the Middle Ages to Modern times. In broad terms, it is correct to consider them as the Orthodox church equivalent to the holy medal in the Catholic church; they were similarly intended to be worn round the neck to consecrate and protect the wearer and enrich him or her with indulgences.

Mario Buhagiar is a Professor of History of Art at the University of Malta in the Department he founded and directed for many years. As a researcher and author of several specialised studies on art and archaeology, his scholarship has won him international good repute; he is Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and Member of the National Order of Merit.

Charles R. Cassar is an art historian. He obtained a Diploma in Baroque Studies, a B.A. (Hons.) and an M.A. in History of Art, all with distinction, from the University of Malta. In 2010, he was inscribed in the Dean’s List for academic excellence. Cassar is the author of Stones of Faith (2012) and is in the process of publishing his research on nineteenth-century ecclesiastical architecture in Gozo.