The Passion and Death of Christ
(Text by Leo Wuyts; adaptation and translation by Erica Uten)
This embroidery by Egidius Annot is one of the most peculiar items in the sampler collection of the Koninklijke Kring voor Heemkunde Kontich (Kontich’s Royal Heritage Society) in Flanders. It is not a sampler sensu stricto, but a narrative depiction, entitled “The Passion and Death of Christ”.
Nativity is the central theme. Firstly, the birth of Christ: the infant Jesus lying in a stable crib, adorned with lace. Mary en Joseph standing on either side of him. On the left we see a donkey and an ox.
Right beneath the roof of the stable, two hovering angels are holding a banderole with the words: Glory to God etc. These are the first words of the hymn: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests”. For lack of space, Egidius simply added etc… to the first three words.
In the stable we can also see two shepherds with five little sheep. The three Magi are present as well, guided there by the star that is depicted above the stable.
On the left side of the stable, “The Flight into Egypt” is shown. The two small trees could be trees of life, but within this context, they could also symbolize the rough and desolate area the Holy Family had to cross on their way to Egypt.
On the right side of the stable, a sailing vessel is shown. This can be considered a symbolic representation of “The Return from Egypt”. The Holy Family is said to have returned to Israel by boat.
The bottom left of the embroidery depicts the story of “The Finding of Christ”, in the temple. The twelve-year-old Jesus, lingering in the temple, was found among the elders by Joseph and Mary three days later.
In the lower centre, we see “The Last Supper”. Jesus, amid his disciples, is sitting behind a long table. At the right, we find Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane. An angel offers him the symbolic cup.
The follow-up of the story, the actual passion of Christ, is elaborated in the upper part of the embroidery. It begins with the arrest on the upper right. Christ is chained and taken away by a temple guard and two civil servants for questioning in the Gazith, the Supreme Court. The temple guard is represented here as a 19th-century police officer.
The building on the right symbolically depicts “The interrogation of Christ”. Inside, behind the windows of the upper floor, we can see the heads of the questioners, one of which is Herod. Beneath the Gazith, we can see an even smaller building, which probably represents the Praetorium, the residence of Pontius Pilate.
Underneath, “Peter’s Denial” is depicted. We can see Peter holding his hands over his ears so that he wouldn”t have to hear the rooster’s crowing. Or is it a cry of despair?
Next to the Praetorium, we can see “The Flagellation of Christ”. Jesus is tied naked to a stake and is whipped with a birch and a stick by two servants of Pontius Pilate.
Last, “The Crucifixion” is depicted. Jesus on the cross with his mother Mary and John on either side of him. A bit farther, two civil servants and, left to them, the Roman guards: the centurion on horseback and three soldiers, depicted as 19th-century police officers.
Egidius Annot was born on 3rd July 1816 in Duffel, a neighbouring village of Kontich. He was a gentleman farmer who owned his land and who was wealthy enough to take on workmen to cultivate it. He lived in one of Kontich’s boroughs, Waarloos, where he died on 18th February 1912. He reached the age of 95, which was extremely rare for that time.
He was probably a very pious man, given the subject of his embroidery. He made it in 1853. In Waarloos, people used to call him Crazy Annot. Maybe because embroidery was an unusual pastime for a farmer.
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