Book Cover with the Crucifixion

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Book Cover with the Crucifixion

Place of OriginLimoges, France

Dateabout 1210-1230

Dimensions12 3/4 × 8 × 7/8 in. (32.4 × 20.3 × 2.2 cm)

Mediumgilded copper on wood panel with Champlevé enamel

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1950.254

Not on View

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published References

Christie, Mary Joanne, The Picture Story of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Gregorian Press, 1963, p. 113, repr. 112, no. 147.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "Medieval Art," Toledo Museum News, New Series, vol. 7, no. 1, Spring 1964, p. 10, repr. p. 11 (also published as Medieval Art)

"Medieval Art at Toledo: a Selection," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 438, repr. fig. 2.

Putney, Richard H., Medieval Art, Medieval People: The Cloister Gallery of the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 2002, p. 12, repr. (col.) fig. 6.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 106, repr. (col.).

Exhibition History

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, The Art of the Bible: The Bible as Art, Hitchcock Gallery, Nov. 2001-Jan. 2002. Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, Museum Angewandte Kunst, The Collection of Maximillian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, January 28 - June 4, 2023.

Label TextThis panel once served as the front cover of a manuscript, probably a book containing the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It comes from Limoges, France, a town renowned for its enamel industry. Splendidly decorated enameled copper plaques are affixed to a wooden panel, a durable and relatively affordable alternative to opulent silver or gold. The center plaque depicts Christ on the cross, flanked on his left by his apostle, John the Evangelist, and on his right by his mother, the Virgin Mary. Angels hover above. Adam, the first man, rises from his grave at the foot of the cross, making clear an essential Christian belief: Christ’s death redeemed Adam’s sin of eating the fruit of knowledge, providing salvation to all mankind. The image would be visible when clergymen carried the book in processions, held it aloft during church services, or displayed it on an altar.