Inv. E 489
Ivory;gilt copper (later arms);rock crystal, gilt silver, niello, parchment and ivory spheres (cross)
Crucified Christ.
Paris 1998 and Gaborit-Chopin 2003: France (Paris), c. 1300-1330. Cross: Venice, 14th century with later additions.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of polychromy and gilding.
Object Condition
Missing: arms of Christ (replaced with gilt copper arms in the 16th century).
Comments
The arms of the cross are 14th century: they are decorated with fantastical animals and foliage. The rock crystal ends take the shape of fleurs-de-lys. A Flagellation scene features in the central engraved copper roundel (16th century). According to Gaborit-Chopin, the ivory Christ may not have originally been intended for this cross, as it seems slightly earlier (see Paris 1998).
Provenance
Collection of R. Blanco (La Coruña); acquired, 16 December 1961 by the Spanish state; transferred 13 July 1965 to the Museo Nacional del Prado
Bibliography
M. Estella, 'Esculturas de marfil medievales en España', in Archivo español de Arte, LVI (1983), pp. 104-105.
H. Hahnloser, S. Brugger-Koch, Corpus der Hartsteinschliffe des 12.-15. Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1985), no. 95.
L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1998, no. 88.
D. Gaborit-Chopin, Ivoires médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003), fig. 121a.
P. Williamson and G. Davies, Medieval Ivory Carvings 1200-1550 (London, 2014), p. 97, in relation to no. 27.
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