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Source Description
On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was brutally murdered in Canterbury Cathedral. The immediate popularity of Becket’s cult is reflected in the large number of enamel reliquaries produced in late 12th- and early 13th-century Limoges workshops to house relics associated with the archbishop, who was canonized only three years after his death. This plaque, which pairs a scene depicting the Martyrdom of Thomas Becket with one of Christ’s Crucifixion, once formed the principal face of such a reliquary.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
128831
label
Plaque from a Chasse for Relics of Saint Thomas Becket
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
128831
contentType
object
title
Plaque from a Chasse for Relics of Saint Thomas Becket
description
On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was brutally murdered in Canterbury Cathedral. The immediate popularity of Becket’s cult is reflected in the large number of enamel reliquaries produced in late 12th- and early 13th-century Limoges workshops to house relics associated with the archbishop, who was canonized only three years after his death. This plaque, which pairs a scene depicting the Martyrdom of Thomas Becket with one of Christ’s Crucifixion, once formed the principal face of such a reliquary.
date
1220–25
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
creators
10026
34768
genreSpecific
Enamel
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 16.9 x 28.5 x 0.5 cm (6 5/8 x 11 1/4 x 3/16 in.)
cul
France, Limousin, Limoges, Gothic period, 13th century
accession
1951.449
Source extras
tec
copper: gilded and engraved; champlevé enamel
tombstone
Plaque from a Chasse for Relics of Saint Thomas Becket, 1220–25. Master G. Alpais (French), and Workshop. Copper: gilded and engraved; champlevé enamel; overall: 16.9 x 28.5 x 0.5 cm (6 5/8 x 11 1/4 x 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1951.449
collection
MED - Gothic
citations
citation
Gauthier, Marie-Madeleine, Geneviève François, Elisabeth Antoine, and Danielle Gaborit-Chopin.<em> Émaux méridionaux: catalogue international de l'œuvre de Limoges.</em> 1987.
page_number
96-7, IE2 no. 7
citation
Migeon, Gaston "La Collection de M.G. Chalandon" <em>Les Arts</em> (June 1905).
page_number
p.19, 28, no.3
citation
Milliken, William M. “A Champlevé Enamel Plaque.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 39, no. 1 (1952).
page_number
p. 7
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. 117
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. 46
citation
Wixom, William D.<em> Treasures from Medieval France.</em> [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 116-117
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. 46
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. 51
citation
Notin, Véronique. <em>Valérie et Thomas Becket: de l'influence des princes Plantagenêt dans l'œuvre de Limoges. </em>Limoges: Musée municipal de l'Evêché/Musée de l'émail, 1999.
page_number
no. 1, p. 61
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. 158-159, no. 54
citation
Eikelmann, Renate, Holger A. Klein, Stephen N. Fliegel, and Virginia Brilliant<em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Meisterwerke von 300 bis 1550.</em> München: Hirmer, 2007.
page_number
p. 164, repr. p. 165, no. 58
citation
Bagnoli, Martina. <em>Treasures of heaven: saints, relics, and devotion in medieval Europe</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2010.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. no. 101, p. 188
citation
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle, Frédéric Tixier, Jean Marie Guillouët, and Dany Sandron.<em> L'œuvre de Limoges et sa diffusion: trésors, objets, collections.</em> Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2011.
page_number
96-7, IE2 no. 7
citation
Munns, John. <em>Cross and Culture in Anglo-Norman England: Theology, Imagery, Devotion.</em> Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2016.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 126-127, pl. 12
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:39:08.889000
sourceId
128831
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Gothic
med
copper: gilded and engraved; champlevé enamel
creatorTags
male
gender unknown
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
2ba02fb6a21f1435