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{
    "localId": "112875",
    "label": "Ceremonial Cross of Count Liudolf",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "112875",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Ceremonial Cross of Count Liudolf",
    "description": "This precious gold cross was commissioned by Countess Gertrude (died 1077) and given to the church of Saint Blaise following the death of her husband, Count Liudolf of Brunswick (died 1038). The cross is decorated with a large oval-shaped chalcedony at its center and with slightly smaller rock crystals at its terminal ends. Fine but fragmentary cloisonné enamel plaques with pairs of confronting peacocks, symbols of immortality, appear at the center of each cross arms. They are set within an intricate system of filigree wire decoration imitating tendrils. Numerous pearls, three large intaglio gems, and various precious and semiprecious stones complete the decoration of the cross. Concealed behind the enamel plaque on the upper cross arm are relics of Saints Valerius and Pancratius as well as a fragment from the stone that sealed the Sepulcher of the Lord. The back of this cross is very worn, making it difficult to recognize the main features of its repoussé decoration. Faintly visible at the center is the Lamb of God, a symbol of Christ, with a cross-shaped halo. Depicted at the end of the cross arms are the symbols of the four Evangelists. A Latin inscription above the Lamb of God identifies the relics concealed behind it, namely \"relics of the saintly bishop Valerius, of Pancratius martyr, [and] of the stone that was placed above the tomb of the Lord.\" A second inscription below states, \"This [work] was commissioned by Gertrude for the soul of Count Liudolf,\" revealing the identity of the cross's patron and the approximate date of its commission.",
    "date": "shortly after 1038",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.461",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60750373"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.461/1931.461_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.461/1931.461_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.461/1931.461_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 24.2 x 21.6 cm (9 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Germany, Lower Saxony?, Romanesque period, 11th century"
    ],
    "accession": "1931.461"
}

{
    "tec": "gold: worked in repoussé; cloisonné enamel; intaglio gems; pearls; wood core",
    "tombstone": "Ceremonial Cross of Count Liudolf, shortly after 1038. Germany, Lower Saxony?, Romanesque period, 11th century. Gold: worked in repoussé; cloisonné enamel; intaglio gems; pearls; wood core; overall: 24.2 x 21.6 cm (9 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust, 1931.461",
    "collection": "MED - Romanesque",
    "inscriptions": [
        {
            "inscription": "translation of the inscription on back:  Relics of the Holy Bishop Valerius, of the Holy Martyr Pancratius, of the Stone which was laid on the tomb of the Lord.  This Gertrude had made for the spiritual welfare of Count Liudolf."
        }
    ],
    "relatedWorks": [
        {
            "id": 112021,
            "description": "Medallion with the Bust of Christ (\"The Cumberland Medallion\"), from the Guelph Treasure, late 700s. Germany, Weserraum, Migration period, late 8th century. Cloisonné enamel and gold on copper; diameter: 5.1 x 0.2 cm (2 x 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1930.504"
        },
        {
            "id": 112022,
            "description": "Monstrance with the \"Paten of Saint Bernward\", c. 1180–1190. Saint Oswald Reliquary Workshop (German). Silver, gilded silver, niello, rock crystal; overall: 34.5 x 15.9 x 14 cm (13 9/16 x 6 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.); part 1: 13.5 cm (5 5/16 in.); part 2: 34.3 cm (13 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund with additional gift from Mrs. R. Henry Norweb, 1930.505"
        },
        {
            "id": 112316,
            "description": "Arm Reliquary of the Apostles, c. 1190. Germany, Lower Saxony, Hildesheim, Romanesque period, late 12th century. Gilt silver, champlevé enamel, oak; overall: 51 x 14 x 9.2 cm (20 1/16 x 5 1/2 x 3 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1930.739"
        },
        {
            "id": 112318,
            "description": "The So-called Horn of Saint Blaise, 1100–1200. South Italy or Sicily, 12th century. Ivory; overall: 12 cm (4 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1930.740"
        },
        {
            "id": 112319,
            "description": "Book-Shaped Reliquary, c. 1000. Circle of The Master of the Registrum Gregorii (German, active c. 972–1000). Ivory, silver: gilded, pearls, rubies, emeralds, crystals, onyx, carnelian, oak; overall: 31.6 x 24.4 x 7.5 cm (12 7/16 x 9 5/8 x 2 15/16 in.); part 1: 17.8 x 14 cm (7 x 5 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1930.741"
        },
        {
            "id": 112958,
            "description": "Ceremonial Cross of Countess Gertrude, 1038 or shortly after. Germany, Lower Saxony?, 11th century. Gold: worked in repoussé; cloisonné enamel, intaglio gems, pearls, wood core; overall: 24.2 x 21.6 cm (9 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund with the addition of a gift from Mrs. Edward B. Greene 1931.55"
        },
        {
            "id": 112876,
            "description": "Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude, c. 1045. Germany, Lower Saxony?, Romanesque period, 11th century. Gold, cloisonné enamel, porphyry, gems, pearls, niello, wood core; overall: 10.5 x 27.5 x 21 cm (4 1/8 x 10 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1931.462"
        },
        {
            "id": 112971,
            "description": "Monstrance with a Relic of Saint Sebastian, 1484. Germany, Lower Saxony, Brunswick, Gothic period, 15th century. Gilded silver, rock crystal, bone, parchment; overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Julius F. Goldschmidt, Z. M. Hackenbroch, and J. Rosenbaum in memory of the Exhibition of the Guelph Treasure held in the Cleveland Museum of Art from 10 January to 1 February 1931, 1931.65"
        }
    ],
    "formerAccessionNumbers": [
        "233.1931",
        "344.1931"
    ],
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "W. M. M. “The Gertrudis Altar and Two Crosses.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 18, no. 2 (February 1931): 23–26, 34.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 23-26; Reproduced: p. 34",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25137357"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition: June Twenty-Sixth to October Fourth 1936</em>. [Cleveland, Ohio]: [Cleveland Museum of Art], 1936.",
            "page_number": "Cat Nbr 3; Mentioned: p. 14; Reproduced: plate 1"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Milliken, William. \"Silver Jubilee Exhibition.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>28, no.6 (June 1941): 88-108",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 102; Mentioned: p. 105",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25140932"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Milliken, William. \"Exhibition of Gold.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>34, no. 9 (November 1947): 211-212.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 211-212; Reproduced: p. 226",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141408"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 96",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n31"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 45",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n69"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 45",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n67"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 50",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n70"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Corbet, Patrick. “L'autel portatif de la comtesse Gertrude de Braunschweig (vers 1040): Tradition royale de Bourgogne et conscience aristocratique dans l'Empire des Saliens.” <em>Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale</em>, 34e année (n°134), (1991):",
            "page_number": "pp 101-04, fig. 8-9 (pl. 3)",
            "url": "https://www.persee.fr/doc/ccmed_0007-9731_1991_num_34_134_2488"
        },
        {
            "citation": "May, Sally Ruth. <em>Knockouts: a pocket guide.</em> Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: no. 19, p. 24"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein<em>. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 116"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 264-265"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Thümmel, Hans Georg. Ikonologie der christlichen Kunst. 2019.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned; p. 164"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Mikolic, Amanda. <em>Worshiping in Place through Art: The Hidden Gems of the Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude. </em>Cleveland Museum of Art The Thinker Blog on Medium. July 16, 2020.",
            "url": "https://medium.com/cma-thinker/worshiping-in-place-through-art-the-hidden-gems-of-the-portable-altar-of-countess-gertrude-48f9457d9cc5"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.461",
    "creditline": "Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust",
    "sketchfabId": "c9b68c716acb44e6be7a58e40e1bbb31",
    "sketchfabUrl": "https://sketchfab.com/models/c9b68c716acb44e6be7a58e40e1bbb31",
    "updatedAt": "2026-06-18 21:16:18.889000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.461/1931.461_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 112875,
    "dept": "Medieval Art",
    "coll": "MED - Romanesque",
    "med": "gold: worked in repoussé; cloisonné enamel; intaglio gems; pearls; wood core",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.461/1931.461_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "2a2be09741b19600"
}