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Relief of Christ
Made at: Limoges (France)
French (Limoges)
Medieval
about 1210
Object Place: Europe, Limoges, France
Medium/Technique
Champlevé enamel and gilding on copper
Dimensions
18.3 x 15.5 x 2.1 cm (7 3/16 x 6 1/8 x 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
William Francis Warden Fund
Accession Number49.472
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsEnamels
DescriptionFrontal crucified Christ wearing a dalmatic and alb. A single copper sheet, cut out, repoussé (into a mold), champlevé, engraved, chased, enameled, and gilded. There is one pinhole in each hand. The eyes are dark-blue glass; the crown, inset with small beads of the same blue glass, is separate. The hole in the center of the belt probably held a cabochon. Enamel colors are lapis blue, green, red, and yellow in single and mixed fields of two colors. Christ's centrally parted wavy hair falls over the shoulder. Only the bottom of the alb (green with red dots) and its gilded cuffs, engraved to show folds, are visible below the lapis-blue dalmatic, which falls in two vertical rows of V-shaped folds, marked in reserve. It has a tied belt engraved with a simple wave pattern that continues down the front in two bands. The collar is green with circular and lozenge-shaped areas of red and yellow simulating gems.
ProvenanceBy 1935, Robert Woods Bliss (b. 1875 - d. 1962), Washington, D.C.; March 17, 1937, sold by Bliss to the Brummer Gallery, New York (stock no. N4045); April 23, 1949, Brummer sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, lot 712a, to the MFA for $275. (Accession Date: May 12, 1949)