A ciborium (altar canopy) sheltered and added focus to the high altar of a church. Here the simple but graceful architectural forms are enhanced with colorful mosaic and gold glass inlays. The Ranucius family of marble workers created this and other works for churches north of Rome.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Ciborium
Artist:Nicolaus Ranucius (Ranierius) and His Sons, Johannes and Guittone
Date:ca. 1150
Culture:Italian
Medium:Marble (Lunense) from Carrera with hardstone and gold glass inlay
Dimensions:Overall: 226 x 93 1/4 x 93 1/2 in. (574 x 236.9 x 237.5 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Architectural
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1909
Accession Number:09.92.3
From the Church of Santo Stefano, Fiano Romano, near Rome; Henry W. Poor, New York (sold 1909)
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Bertaux, Emile. L'art dans l'Italie méridionale: Volume 1, De la fin de l'empire romain à la conquête de Charles d'Anjou. Paris: Fontemoing, 1904. pp. 455, 576–77.
Piccirilli, Pietro. "La Marsica Monumentale." L'Arte XII (1909). pp. 334–336, fig. 10, 11.
Artistic Furnishings and Interior Decorations of the Residence of Henry W. Poor. New York: American Art Association, April 21–24, 1909. no. 350.
Braun, Joseph. Der christliche Altar in seiner geschichtlichen Entwicklung. Vol. 2. Munich: Alte Meister Guenther Koch & Co., 1924. p. 224.
Hermanin, Federico. L'arte in Roma dal sec. VIII al XIV. Bologna: L. Cappelli, 1945. pp. 64–65, pl. VI–1, XIV–2, LXIV-1, LXVI-1, 2.
Rorimer, James J. "Recent Reinstallations of Medieval Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 6, no. 7 (March 1948). pp. 198–200.
Hutton, Edward. The Cosmati: The Roman Marble Workers of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1950. pp. 6, 14–15, 34, 61–62.
Rorimer, James J. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Medieval Art in Fort Tryon Park. 3rd revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1963. pp. 52–54.
Tomkins, Calvin. "The Cloisters... The Cloisters... The Cloisters...." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 28, no. 7 (March 1970). pp. 317–318.
Rorimer, James J. Medieval Monuments at The Cloisters: As They Were and As They Are, edited by Katherine Serrell Rorimer. Revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. pp. 34–35, fig. 35–37.
Garmey, Stephen S., and Balsam Press. Gramercy Park: An Illustrated History of a New York Neighborhood. New York, 1984. pp. 128–130, fig. 146.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Lisbeth. "Romanesque Sculpture in North American Collections. XXIII. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Part III: Italy (2)." Gesta 24, no. 4 (1985). no. 9, pp. 162–63, fig. 12.
Claussen, Peter Cornelius. Magistri Doctissimi Romani. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1987. pl. 3, 7, 26, 28.
Young, Bonnie. A Walk Through The Cloisters. 5th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988. pp. 32–34.
Barnet, Peter. "Medieval Europe." In Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1977–2008, edited by James R. Houghton. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. p. 29, fig. 40.
Perchuk, Alison Locke. "Da Sanata Sabina a Forest Lawn e da Fiano Romano a New York: La Fortuna Dei Cibori Italiani in America." In Medioevo tra due mondi. San Nicolò a San Gemini e le alienazioni monumentali nella prima metà del Novecento, edited by Francesco Gangemi, Tanja Michalsky, and Bruno Toscano. Rome: Campisano Editore, 2022. fig. 5–7, pp. 153–173.
Tosti, Eleonora. "Dalla Chiesa di Santo Stephano Vecchio a Fiano Romano al Metropolitan Museum of Art die New York. Ricerche su un Ciborio Medievale." In Medioevo tra due mondi. San Nicolò a San Gemini e le alienazioni monumentali nella prima metà del Novecento, edited by Francesco Gangemi, Tanja Michalsky, and Bruno Toscano. Rome: Campisano Editore, 2022. fig. 1, 5, pp. 175–190.
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