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Source Description
On this cross, Christ is shown as emaciated and suffering with bright red enamel wounds and red-rimmed eyes. The light blue censers (incense burners) seen below Christ's hands likely swung in the hands of angels (now lost from the ends of the cross) as shown in another cross fragment, Walters 44. 646. Adam's skull at the bottom of the cross and below Christ's feet symbolizes the redemption of mankind through the Crucifixion. The use of vivid and varied colors, especially white and red enamels, combined with technical details such as the delicate gilded metal outlines that shimmer with stippling (dotting), identify this cross as the work of craftsmen active at Grandmont Abbey, near Limoges, in central France.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
27519
label
Processional or Altar Cross from the Abbey of Grandmont
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
27519
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Processional or Altar Cross from the Abbey of Grandmont
description
On this cross, Christ is shown as emaciated and suffering with bright red enamel wounds and red-rimmed eyes. The light blue censers (incense burners) seen below Christ's hands likely swung in the hands of angels (now lost from the ends of the cross) as shown in another cross fragment, Walters 44. 646. Adam's skull at the bottom of the cross and below Christ's feet symbolizes the redemption of mankind through the Crucifixion. The use of vivid and varied colors, especially white and red enamels, combined with technical details such as the delicate gilded metal outlines that shimmer with stippling (dotting), identify this cross as the work of craftsmen active at Grandmont Abbey, near Limoges, in central France.
provenance
Prince Alexis Dmitrievitch Saltykoff (Aleksei Dmitrievich Saltykov), by purchase; Alexei Alexandrovitch Saltykoff-Golovkin (Aleksei Aleksandrovich Saltykov-Golovkin), 1858, by inheritance; Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 8, 1861, no. 96; Frédéric Spitzer, Paris, by purchase; Sale, Paul Chevallier and Charles Mannheim, Paris, April 17, 1893, no. ???; Sale, New York, 1929; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1930, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
late 12th century (Medieval)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Enamels
crosses (objects)
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
38
height
25.5
depth
0.5
dimensionsRaw
14 15/16 x 10 1/16 x 3/16 in. (38 x 25.5 x 0.5 cm)
Source extras
cul
French
style
Romanesque
inscriptions
Text in gilded copper on cross above Christ's head: I H S/ X P~S; [Transcription] IH[ESU]S CHR[ISTU]S; [Translation] Jesus Christ. In this inscription
the titulus (the long horizontal mark indicating an abbreviation) is placed unusually between the P and the S to abbreviate the initials XPS for Christ.
med
champlevé enamel on gilded copper
creator_ids
6229
collection_ids
MED
exhibition_ids
306
316
2951
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
f06db9c2fcaee110
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
4ec9fece941ef894
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no