Kondakoff assigns most of the mosaics to the Comnenian restoration of the church by Maria Ducaena in the eleventh or twelfth century. One of them at least, the Deësis, has survived; and there may be others of that period, for, as that mosaic proves, the narthex of the church was decorated when the church was restored by that benefactress of the Chora. But the testimony of Nicephorus Gregoras,[547] of Theodore Metochites,[548] and the date marked on the scene representing the miracle of the wine at Cana, on the right of the figure of Christ over the door leading from the outer to the inner narthex, prove these mosaics to be as a whole the production of the fourteenth century. And this conclusion is confirmed by their unlikeness to mosaic work in the twelfth century, and by their affinity to other work of the same character done in the fourteenth century.[549] In fact, the mosaics in the Chora represent a remarkable revival in the history of Byzantine art. They are characterised by a comparative freedom from tradition, by closer approximation to reality and nature, by a charm and a sympathetic quality, and by a scheme of colour that indicate the coming of a new age and spirit. Curiously enough, they are contemporary with the frescoes of Giotto at Padua (1303-1306). But whatever points of similarity may be detected between them and the work of the Italian artist, or between them and the Italian school before Giotto, should be explained as due to a common stock of traditions and to the simultaneous awakening of a new intellectual and artistic life in the East and the West, rather than to any direct influence of one school of art upon another. The mosaics of the Chora are thoroughly Byzantine.[550] The Frescoes in the Parecclesion:-- 1. Round the apse: Six Fathers of the Church (only one figure remains, and that badly damaged. No names are inscribed). 2. In the vault of the apse: a full-length figure of Christ in a vesica dotted with stars. On either side are groups of figures. 3. In the crown of the apse-arch: an angel in a medallion. 4. In the northern wall, next the apse: Christ with two attendants; in the background a walled city. The Eastern Bay. On the northern wall: 5. Above the arched recess: two medallion heads of SS. Sergius and Bacchus. 6. Portions of the figure of a warrior. 7. In the arch above Nos. 5 and 6: the Gate of Paradise. 8. In the centre, one of the cherubims on a pillar. On the left hand, a multitude, painted on black background outside Paradise; on the right, Paradise, a garden full of trees on a white background. Here also are John the Baptist and a figure, probably the Virgin and Child, on a throne, attended by two angels. [Illustration: FIG. 116.--PLAN OF THE PARECCLESION, INDICATING POSITIONS OF ITS FRESCOES.] On the southern wall: 8. A portion of the figure of an armed angel. Above No. 8 and at the side of the window: