**2. Vardzia (1180s)**

Vardzia, a cave complex, located in the southern part of the country, was the royal foundation of T'amar's father Giorgi III. T'amar changed its probable original military function into a monastic foundation. The half-cave church of the Virgin and its fresco decoration were commissioned by Rati Surameli, a high official at T'amar's court. The fresco decoration of this church contains the earliest image of Queen T'amar. The royal panel is placed on the northern wall of the church, inserted into a recessed arch (Figure 1). The panel shows T'amar alongside her father Giorgi III, both of them standing before the enthroned Virgin and Child. T'amar, accompanied by the inscription "King of Kings of all the East, T'amar, daughter of Giorgi; may God gran<sup>t</sup> her a long life", holds a square-shaped model of the Vardzia church and is dressed in a variation of Byzantine male imperial costume: the now blackened burgundy patterned textile skaramangion, the bejewelled loros, the red tzangia, and heavy, bejewelled crown with pendilia hanging down, while also wearing jewellery—circular earrings (on variations of Georgian royal costume, see [20] (pp. 65–89), cf. with the contemporary Komnenian Byzantine imperial dress, [21] (pp. 11–51), and the royal costume at the court of Cilician Armenia, [22] (pp. 243–259). See Glossary). Her father, accompanied by the inscription "King of Kings of all the East, Giorgi, son of Demetre, King of Kings", wears a similar Byzantine attire, through the loros' shape is slightly different. The royal panel also includes an image of a flying angel above the monarchs who lowers a thin sceptre to T'amar's father. The enthroned Virgin gestures to Giorgi, while the child Christ blesses both him and T'amar. It has been noted that in this portrait, T'amar is not wearing the typical married women's attire. Furthermore, the lack of final acclamation at the end of Giorgi's inscription testifies that he was no longer alive. Considering all these, the panel may have been painted sometime around 1185—soon after T'amar's second coronation or before her forced first marriage to a Russian prince. Studies have also revealed that T'amar's face was retouched in the nineteenth century. T'amar's portrait in Vardzia encapsulates the complicated situation at the Georgian royal court in the 1180s. The panel hints at Giorgi III's need for legitimacy, whose usurping the throne had made T'amar's future position vulnerable. Giorgi's divine right for kingship is ascertained by depicting celestial powers directly investing him with the royal sceptre and by his presence before the Theotokos and child. Such positioning of Giorgi's figure legitimises his heir and assures her succession. Furthermore, already in her earliest portrait in Vardzia, T'amar is re-gendered. Although her inscription does not omit her gender, her title, costume, and insignia remain intended for a male monarch (for these royal images and their connection with Vardzia programme, see: [10] (pp. 20–24), [11] (pp. 17–20), [12] (pp. 99–124)).

**Figure 1.** Queen T'amar with her father King Giorgi III, fresco, 1180s, main church of Vardzia monastery (Photograph: Neli Chakvetadze).
