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The Crucifixion with the Virgin, St John and two Angels
Workshop: uncertain
Copper plaque, champlevé, enamelled, engraved, and gilt, the figures with applied chased heads in relief
Copper plaque, champlevé, and enamelled in three shades of blue, green, yellow, and red, engraved, and gilt. The relief figure of Christ, and the heads of the Virgin and St John are repoussé and applied. The plaque is rectangular and very slightly convex, with one attachment hole in each corner and two on each side.
History note: Purchased in Milan by Frank McClean
Frank McClean Bequest
Height: 23 cm
Width: 10.2 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1904) by McClean, Frank
13th Century
Medieval
Circa
1200
CE
-
1300
CE
This plaque belongs to a stylistic group made at Limoges over a period of some twenty years about 1200. It once formed the central panel of a book cover, possibly an evangelistary. The figure of Christ and the heads of the Virgin Mary, St John and the two witnessing angels overhead are embossed and chased in low relief and attached to the slightly convex surface of the plaque by studs. At top centre, the nimbed hand of God descends from a cloud over the titulus, IHS/XPS, an abbreviation for Jesus Christ in Greek, and the skull of Adam is shown on the Cross below Christ's feet. This refers to the legend that the Cross was erected on the burial place of Adam, also the belief that through the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, humankind might be redeemed from sin, and gain eternal life. Through this iconography the book cover proclaimed the message of the text within, and provided a focus for meditation on the transitry nature of earthly life.
Decoration
composed of
enamel
( dark blue, pale blue, green, yellow, and red)
gold
Plaque
composed of
copper
Accession number: M.34-1904
Primary reference Number: 131084
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "The Crucifixion with the Virgin, St John and two Angels" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/131084 Accessed: 2024-12-03 19:08:56
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/131084
|title=The Crucifixion with the Virgin, St John and two Angels
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-03 19:08:56|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-131084
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<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Crucifixion with the Virgin, St John and two Angels</figcaption>
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