Plaque from a Portable Altar: Christ and the Apostles

The collection record classifies this work as ivory. It is dated 1050–1100. Recorded culture or place: Germany, Lower Rhine Valley, Romanesque period, 11th century.

Explore the object record

OBJECT RECORD

A closer look at the details.

Museum title: Plaque from a Portable Altar: Christ and the Apostles
Date: 1050–1100
Culture / origin: Germany, Lower Rhine Valley, Romanesque period, 11th century
Materials and technique: walrus ivory
Dimensions: Overall: 5.1 x 16.5 cm (2 x 6 1/2 in.)
Artist / maker: Not specified by the museum
Museum: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 1922.307

FROM THE MUSEUM

In the museum’s words

The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.

These intricately carved ivory panels once decorated the sides of a portable altar. Three of the plaques, those depicting Christ in Majesty and his apostles, were the first major acquisition of William M. Milliken, the museum's first curator of decorative arts and later director (1930–1958). As Milliken later recalled, the pieces "were immensely intriguing, monumental in scale, even if tiny in size, the Christ in the mandorla could have been enlarged and would have graced the tympanum of a great cathedral."

FOLLOW THE SOURCE