Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
Commissioned by Countess Gertrude of Brunswick, this portable altar is one of the Guelph Treasure’s earliest and most sumptuous objects. The choice of white-speckled porphyry as the altar stone signals Gertrude’s worldly aspirations; an imperial color since classical antiquity, porphyry was only used by the imperial family. Historical figures of royal and imperial rank are depicted with Christ, the Virgin, apostles, and archangels along the altar’s sides, stressing the countess’s political ambitions and claim of imperial lineage for her own dynasty. The Latin inscription surrounding the altar stone reads, "Gertrude offers to Christ, to live joyfully in him, this stone that glistens with gems and gold."
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
112876
label
Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
112876
contentType
object
title
Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude
description
Commissioned by Countess Gertrude of Brunswick, this portable altar is one of the Guelph Treasure’s earliest and most sumptuous objects. The choice of white-speckled porphyry as the altar stone signals Gertrude’s worldly aspirations; an imperial color since classical antiquity, porphyry was only used by the imperial family. Historical figures of royal and imperial rank are depicted with Christ, the Virgin, apostles, and archangels along the altar’s sides, stressing the countess’s political ambitions and claim of imperial lineage for her own dynasty. The Latin inscription surrounding the altar stone reads, "Gertrude offers to Christ, to live joyfully in him, this stone that glistens with gems and gold."
date
c. 1045
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60779219
genreSpecific
Metalwork
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 10.5 x 27.5 x 21 cm (4 1/8 x 10 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
cul
Germany, Lower Saxony?, Romanesque period, 11th century
accession
1931.462
Source extras
tec
gold, cloisonné enamel, porphyry, gems, pearls, niello, wood core
tombstone
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
collection
MED - Romanesque
inscriptions
inscription
GERDRVDIS XPO FELIX VT | VIVAT IN IPSO OBTVLIT HVNC LAPIDEM GEMMIS | AVROQ NITENTEM
inscription
SIGISMVNDVS, CONSTANTIVS, SANCTA CRVX, SCA ELENA, SCA ADALHEIT
inscription_translation
Sigismund, Constantine, True Cross, Saint Helena, Saint Adelheid
inscription_remark
Short Side, Right of Front,
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
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
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
id
112875
description
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
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
didYouKnow
On the bottom of this altar is a trap door that opened to reveal small relics of saints wrapped in silk.
citations
citation
W. M. M. “The Acquisition of Six Objects from the Guelph Treasure for the Cleveland Museum of Art: Foreword.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 17, no. 9 (November 1930): 163–165.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 163-165
citation
W. M. M. “The Acquisition of Six Objects from the Guelph Treasure for the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 17, no. 9 (November 1930): 165–178, 183.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 169-170; Reproduced: p. 171
citation
Milliken, William M. "The Gertrudis Altar and Two Crosses." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>18, no. 2 (February 1931).
page_number
pp. 31-33
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
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
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. 95
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. 97-120, fig 1-5 (pl. 1-2)
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
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
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
citation
De Winter, Patrick M. "The Sacral Treasure of the Guelphs." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 72, no. 1 (1985).
page_number
pp. 30, 36-37, 39-40, 41, 43, 47, 67, 74, 117, 134-136, 139 no. 4, no. 22, figs. 38-39; color plates V-IX
citation
Lasko, Peter. <em>Ars Sacra, 800-1200. </em>New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.
page_number
pp. 135-137, 139
citation
Luckhardt, Jochen, and Franz Niehoff. <em>Heinrich der Löwe und seine Zeit: Herrschaft und Repräsentation der Welfen 1125-1235</em> : Katalog der Ausstellung, Braunschweig 1995. München: Hirmer, 1995.
page_number
no. 120, p. 226; no. 121, p. 227; no. 386, p. 513
citation
Boockmann, Andrea. <em>Die verlorenen Teile des 'Welfenschätzes': eine Übersicht anhand des Reliquienverzeichnisses von 1482 der Stiftskirche St. Blasius in Braunschweig. </em>Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1997.
page_number
pp. 30, 54, 56, 70, 75, 77, 101, 130f
citation
Ehlers, Joachim, and Dietrich Kötzsche. <em>Der Welfenschatz und sein Umkreis.</em> Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1998.
page_number
p. 55; abb. 6, p. 56; abb. 5, p. 56; abb. 6, 56; abb. 7, p. 295.
citation
Budde, Michael. <em>Altare portatile: Kompendium der Tragaltäre des Mittelalters, 600-1600</em>. Münster/Westf: Werne a.d. Lippe, 1998.
page_number
Vol. I p 168; Vol. II pp 90-98
citation
Colloque international du Centre d'études médiévales, Patrick Corbet, Monique Goullet, Dominique Iogna-Prat, Chantal Palluet, and Daniel Russo. <em>Adélaïde de Bourgogne: genèse et représentations d'une sainteté impériale</em>. Paris: Editions de l'Université de Dijon, 2002.
page_number
p. 157, fig. 4
citation
<em>Athanor</em> XVIII. Florida State University Department of Art History, vol. 18, (2000).
page_number
p. 15, fig. 7
citation
Brüsch, Tania.<em> Die Brunonen, ihre Grafschaften und die sächsische Geschichte: Herrschaftsbildung und Adelsbewusstsein im 11. Jahrhundert</em>. Husum: Matthiesen Verlag, 2000.
page_number
pp 88-92
citation
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. <em>Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
page_number
Reproduced: no. 19, p. 24
citation
Peter, Michael.<em> Der Gertrudistragaltar aus dem Welfenschatz: eine stilgeschichtliche</em> <em>Untersuchung</em>. Mainz: Von Zabern, 2001.
page_number
Fig. 1, 2, p. 22, Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7-17, pp. 22-29
citation
Stiegemann, Christoph, and Hiltrud Westermann-Angerhausen. <em>Schatzkunst am Aufgang der Romanik: der Paderborner Dom-Tragaltar und sein Umkreis</em>. München: Hirmer, 2006.
page_number
p. 82, fig. 2
citation
Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant. T<em>he Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550.</em> München: Hirmer, 2007.
page_number
p. 114, repr. p. 115-116, no. 36
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. 116-118, no. 36
citation
Palazzo, Eric.<em> L'espace rituel et le sacré dans le Christianisme: la liturgie de l'autel portatif dans l'Antiquité et au Moyen Âge.</em> Turnhout: Brepols, 2008.
page_number
pp. 158, 163, 165-66, 179
citation
Fliegel, Stephen N. <em>Resplendent Faith: Liturgical Treasuries of the Middle Ages. </em>Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2009.
page_number
pp. 18, fig. 11
citation
Klein, Holger A. "Himmlische Schatze." <em>das munster</em> (Jan. 2010).
page_number
p. 376, fig. 5
citation
Bagnoli, Martina. <em>Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe. </em>[Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2010.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 42, p.86
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, David Franklin, and C. Griffith Mann. <em>Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
page_number
pp. 88-89
citation
Hahn, Cynthia J. <em>Strange Beauty: Issues in the Making and Meaning of Reliquaries, 400-Circa 1204.</em> University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012.
page_number
p. 97, fig. 44
citation
Smith, Julia M. H. <em>Portable Christianity: Relics in the Medieval West (C. 700-1200).</em> Oxford: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 2012.
page_number
p. 147, fig. 1
citation
Robinson, James, Lloyd De Beer, and Anna Harnden.<em> Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic Veneration in the Medieval Period</em>. 2014.
page_number
pp. 137-142
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
Gearhart, Heidi C. Theophilus and the Theory and Practice of Medieval Art. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017.
page_number
Reproduced: color plate 10; p. 109, fig, 24; p. 110, fig. 25: Mentioned: p. 111-113
citation
Mikolic, Amanda. <em>Worshiping in Place Through Art: The Hidden Gems of the Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude. </em>The Cleveland Museum of Art, CMA Thinker on Medium, 2020.
citation
García de Castro Valdés, César, and Gerardo Boto Varela. El Arca Santa de Oviedo: contexto de producción, iconografía y significado. 2020, 124.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 124 and 298.
citation
Fehlmann, Marc, Michael Matzke and Sabine Söll-Tauchert. <em>Gold & Ruhm: Kunst und Macht unter Kaiser Heinrich II</em>. Basel; München: Historisches Museum Basel; Hirmer, 2019.
page_number
Mentioned & reproduced: pp. 265-265, cat.89
citation
Zchomelidse, Nino. “Written in Stone and Wrapped in Silk: Aesthetics of Illusion and Authenticity in Ottonian Legal Documents.” <em>Speculum</em> 101, n. 2 (April 2026): 466-510.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 476; Reproduced: p. 478, fig. 8
creditline
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
sketchfabId
84c7d3dc1dcb493081ee8e177dcc9107
updatedAt
2026-06-18 21:16:20.894000
sourceId
112876
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Romanesque
med
gold, cloisonné enamel, porphyry, gems, pearls, niello, wood core
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
f82a4b013522a87b