Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "121223",
    "label": "Altar Cross",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "121223",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Altar Cross",
    "description": "This cross is traditionally said to come from the Benedictine Abbey of Meherau on Lake Constance in today’s Austria. During the 12th and 13th centuries the abbey became wealthy through the acquisition of landed property. This beautiful cross would have likely embellished one of the abbey’s many altars where it symbolized Christ’s presence in the Mass.",
    "date": "c. 1300–1310",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.1091",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60757688"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1091/1942.1091_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1091/1942.1091_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1091/1942.1091_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "without base: 50.2 x 39.4 cm (19 3/4 x 15 1/2 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Germany or Austria, Upper Rhine, Constance, 14th century"
    ],
    "accession": "1942.1091"
}

{
    "tec": "gilt copper, champlevé enamel, gemstones, on wood core",
    "tombstone": "Altar Cross, c. 1300–1310. Germany or Austria, Upper Rhine, Constance, 14th century. Gilt copper, champlevé enamel, gemstones, on wood core; without base: 50.2 x 39.4 cm (19 3/4 x 15 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1942.1091",
    "collection": "MED - Gothic",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Milliken, William M. “Copper-Gilt Cross from Vienna.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 30, no. 10 (December 1943): 147–156.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 147-149; Reproduced: Cover, p. 153, 156",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25141092"
        },
        {
            "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. 152",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n39"
        },
        {
            "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. 52",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n76"
        },
        {
            "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. 53",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n77"
        },
        {
            "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. 60",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n80"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Cohen, Meredith. \"The Bestiary beyond the Book.\" In <em>Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World</em>. Elizabeth Morrison and Larisa Grollemond, eds. pp. 177 - 225. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2019.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced and mentioned: p. 186, cat. 38"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Hamburger, Jeffrey F., and Rabanus Maurus. <em>Diagramming Devotion: Berthold of Nuremberg's Transformation of Hrabanus Maurus's Poems in Praise of the Cross.</em> Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2020.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: P. 97; Reproduced: P. 99, fig. 63"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.1091",
    "creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 06:14:43.794000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1091/1942.1091_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 121223,
    "dept": "Medieval Art",
    "coll": "MED - Gothic",
    "med": "gilt copper, champlevé enamel, gemstones, on wood core",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1091/1942.1091_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "05f7bdb6afc82b68"
}