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Crucifixion with St James and St Catherine of Alexandria: M.43-1904

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Crucifixion with St James and St Catherine of Alexandria

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Copper, decorated in translucent and opaque enamels, partly over foils. The Crucifixion in the centre panel with St James on the left wing and St Catherine on the right wing, enclosed in a wooden frame with folding wings

Three copper plaques, almost flat, and partly foiled in silver, enamelled in translucent royal blue, two shades of green, and mulberry, and opaque flesh, red, white, and black,and gilded. On the centre plaque Christ hangs on a gilded Cross with the word INRI on a titulus above his head. He wears a crown of thorns, and a loin cloth, and blood streams from a wound in his right side. The Virgin Mary stands on the left with her hands extended, wearing a green veil, a royal blue gown over a green skirt, and a purple cloak. St John stands on the right with his hands clasped in prayer. He has long blonde hair and wears a blue gown with green sleeves, and a purple cloak. The cloudy blue sky is scattered with small groups of gold rays, and on the right is a white crescent moon enclosing a profile face. The lower background is uneven dark green.

The Saints on the two wings each stand on a green tiled floor beneath an ogee arch supported by diagonally fluted columns with a shallow apse behind them. Above the arches there are circular medallions, reserved in a black ground, that on the left wing occupied by a bearded man in profile to right wearing a turquoise helmet, and that on the right by a a clean-shaven man three-quarters to left wearing a green helmet. On the left wing St James is depicted as a pilgrim holding a staff in his right hand and an open book in his left. He is bearded, and barefooted, and wears a green hat, blue gown, and a dark bluish-green cloak. On the other wing St Catherine holds the hilt of a sword in her right hand, and an open book in her left. She wears a gold crown, a purple gown over a dark blue petticoat, and a royal blue cloak. The outlines of the costume, the architectural features, and medallions are gilded, and there are gold foliated scrolls in the spaces around the medallions.

Notes

History note: Propert Collection (according to an early Fitzwilliam catalogue description); possibly John Lumsden Propert (1834-1902), 112 Gloucester Place, London; Frank McClean, MA, FRS (1837-1904)

Legal notes

Frank McClean bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 18.9 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Paris ⪼ France

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1904) by McClean, Frank

Dating

19th Century, second half
Circa 1850 CE - 1900 CE

Note

St Catherine and St James on the wings flanking the Crucifixion were early Christian martyrs, and among the saints most widely venerated in the later Middle Ages. Apart from their martyrdoms, they were particularly appropriate to accompany Nativity or Crucifixion scenes, because their feast days were respectively on 25 November and 25 July, the same day in the month as Christ's on 25 December.. Although in the style of Limoges Renaissance painted enamels, this triptych was made in the second half of the nineteenth century, probably in Paris. The martyrs on the wings were obviously inspired by their images on the wings of a famous late fifteenth-century triptych which has the inscription MONVAERNI on St Catherine’s sword, then interpreted as the maker's name. In the nineteenth century that triptych was successively in the Didier-Petit, Odiot, and Cottreau collections in Paris, and was well known because it was exhibited at the Trocadéro in the 1889 Exposition rétrospective. Since 1904 it has been in the Taft collection in the USA and is now in the Taft Museum, Cincinnati (See Documentation, Verdier, 1995). St Catherine's other attribute, a wheel, and her persecutor the Emperor Maxentius, which are shown on the original triptych wing have been omitted. Apart from its inferior quality, a feature which reinforces the dating of this triptych to the nineteenth century, is the stylistic mismatch between the wings and central Crucifixion which is reminiscent of early seventeenth-century examples, such as one by Léonard Limosin II in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Limoges. An almost identical nineteenth-century triptych in a similar frame, is in the Museo Diocesano Francesco Gonzaga at Mantua (see Documentation, Venturi, 2010), and another was sold by Christie's in London on 4 July, 2000, lot 37. It has not been possible to remove the plaques in the Fitzwilliam's triptych from their frame to see if they are signed, but another triptych at Mantua, which has a similar frame, contains a plaque signed by Samson of Paris, a firm famed for reproductions of ceramics and enamels.

School or Style

Renaissance Revival

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of enamel ( translucent royal blue, two shades of green, and mulberry, and opaque flesh, red, white, and black) gold
Frame composed of wood
Plaques composed of silver foil copper
Side Plaques Height 10.8 cm Width 3.5 cm
Centre Plaque Height 10.8 cm Width 7.1 cm
Closed Width 11 cm
Open Width 21.2 cm

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.43-1904
Primary reference Number: 156429
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Saturday 23 March 2024 Last processed: Saturday 22 March 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Crucifixion with St James and St Catherine of Alexandria" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/156429 Accessed: 2025-04-21 16:39:10

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/156429 |title=Crucifixion with St James and St Catherine of Alexandria |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-04-21 16:39:10|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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