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{
    "localId": "112876",
    "label": "Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "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",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.462",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60779219"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.462/1931.462_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.462/1931.462_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.462/1931.462_web.jpg",
    "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"
}

{
    "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",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25137331"
        },
        {
            "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",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25137332"
        },
        {
            "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",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25137357"
        },
        {
            "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. 95",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n31"
        },
        {
            "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)",
            "url": "https://www.persee.fr/doc/ccmed_0007-9731_1991_num_34_134_2488"
        },
        {
            "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": "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",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159893"
        },
        {
            "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 &amp; 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.",
            "url": "https://medium.com/cma-thinker/worshiping-in-place-through-art-the-hidden-gems-of-the-portable-altar-of-countess-gertrude-48f9457d9cc5"
        },
        {
            "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 &amp; 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"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.462",
    "creditline": "Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust",
    "sketchfabId": "84c7d3dc1dcb493081ee8e177dcc9107",
    "sketchfabUrl": "https://sketchfab.com/models/84c7d3dc1dcb493081ee8e177dcc9107",
    "updatedAt": "2026-06-18 21:16:20.894000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.462/1931.462_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 112876,
    "dept": "Medieval Art",
    "coll": "MED - Romanesque",
    "med": "gold, cloisonné enamel, porphyry, gems, pearls, niello, wood core",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1931.462/1931.462_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "f82a4b013522a87b"
}