Chasse with Crucifixion

Place of OriginFrance (Limoges)

Date1200-1225

DimensionsH: 7 1/2 in.; L: 6 1/2 in.

MediumGilt copper and champleve enamel over oak lining.

ClassificationMetalwork

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

Object number

1949.36

Not on View

Label TextThis precious reliquary chasse, or box, was made to contain the holy relics of a Christian saint, such as a fragment of bone or clothing. The reliquary container was likely made in Limoges, a city renowned since the Middle Ages for its enamelwork. Enameling is essentially painting with glass—powdered colored glass suspended in an oily substance is painted onto a metal or glass vessel. The object is then fired in an oven so that the enamels become hard and shiny and fused to the surface. The technique of champlevé involves carving cells into a copper surface and filling the troughs with enamel and then firing the work to fuse the enamel to the metal. Together the gilt copper and enamel decoration enshrine and honor the holy contents inside.Published References

Parke-Bernet Galleries, The notable art collection belonging to the estate of the late Joseph Brummer, 1949, Cat. No. 723.

Putney, Richard H., Medieval Art, Medieval People: The Cloister Gallery of the Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 2002, p. 35 (fig. 29), p. 56 (det.), repr. (col.) fig. 48.

Exhibition History

Paris, Exposition Universelle, 1900.

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Arts of the Middle Ages, 1000-1400, 1940, No. 235, repr. pl. XXV.