Originally thought to be the missing base plaque of The Cloisters cross, this ivory is one of its closest surviving parallels. Within the city walls of Jerusalem, the bound figure of Christ is brought before the High Priest Caiaphas for trial. The shallow relief space and sketchy, less decisive figures differentiate its carving from that of the cross. It must have originally been part of a large narrative cycle dedicated to the Life of Christ.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Plaque with Christ Before the High Priest Caiaphas
Date:ca. 1150–75
Culture:British
Medium:Walrus Ivory and paint
Dimensions:Overall: 2 3/16 x 2 1/16 x 1/4 in. (5.6 x 5.2 x 0.6 cm)
Classification:Ivories
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1963
Accession Number:63.127
Inscription: P[RO]Ph[ETAE] ET T[ESTIMONIO] ZA[CCHARIAE] . ([from] the prophet and witness Zachariah)
Alfred André French, Paris (until d. 1919) ; his posthumous sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris (April 23-24, 1920, no. 252) ; Ida Maria Fuld, Frankfurt (sold 1963) ; [ Rosenberg & Stiebel (1963)]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 12–May 10, 1970.
Victoria and Albert Museum. "Ivory carvings in early medieval England, 700-1200," May 8–July 7, 1974.
Hayward Gallery. "English Romanesque Art 1066—1200," April 5–July 8, 1984.
Catalogue des antiquités égyptiennes, grecques et romaines: objets d'art et de haute curiosité du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance: composant la Collection de Feu M. Alfred André. Paris: Hôtel Drouot, April 23–24, 1920. no. 232, p. 40.
Carey, Arthur Graham. "Ivory and Gold." Good Work 27 (Autumn 1964). pp. 106–15.
Hoving, Thomas. "The Bury St. Edmunds Cross." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 22, no. 10 (June 1964). p. 324, fig. 7.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ninety-Fourth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1963-1964." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 23, no. 2 (October 1964). p. 81.
Hoving, Thomas. "'The Game of Duplicity,' Art Forgery." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 26, no. 6 (February 1968). p. 245, fig. 6.
Longland, Sabrina. "Pilate Answered: What I Have Written I Have Written." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 26, no. 10 (June 1968). p. 411, fig. 1.
Longland, Sabrina. "A Literary Aspect of the Bury St. Edmunds Cross." Metropolitan Museum Journal 2 (1969). pp. 45–74, fig. 1, 2, 4.
Hoffmann, Konrad, ed. The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970. no. 60, pp. 52–56.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. New York: Dutton Publishing, 1970. no. 123, p. 143.
Sauerländer, Willibald. "Review of 'The Year 1200,' a Centennial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. February 12-May 10, 1970." The Art Bulletin 53, no. 4 (December 1971). p. 512.
Deuchler, Florens. "The Cloisters: Ein Museum für mittelalterliche Kunst in New York." Du 32, no. 2 (1972). p. 111.
Scarfe, Norman. "The Bury St. Edmunds Cross: The Work of Master Hugo?." Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology 33, no. 1 (1973). pp. 75–85, pl. VI (ill. with cross).
Beckwith, John, ed. Ivory Carvings in Early Medieval England, 700-1200. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1974. no. 61, pp. 92–96.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires du Moyen Age. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1978. no. 6, pp. 178–79.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Elfenbeinkunst im Mittelalter. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1978. no. 4, pp. 178–79.
Parker, Elizabeth C. The Descent from the Cross: Its Relation to the Extra-Liturgical "Depositio" Drama. Outstanding dissertations in the fine arts. New York: Garland Publishing, 1978. pp. 211–28.
Hoving, Thomas. King of the Confessors. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981. pp. 304–5, 326–28, 332–33.
Zarnecki, George, Janet Holt, and Tristram Holland, ed. English Romanesque Art, 1066-1200. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984. no. 208, pp. 225–26.
Little, Charles T., and Elisabeth C. Parker. "Il Re dei Confessori." In Il Re dei Confessori: dalla croce dei Cloisters alle croci italiane. Venice: Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, 1984. pp. 60–61, fig. 35.
Snyder, James. Medieval Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, 4th-14th century. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1989. p. 305, fig. 376, ill. p. 296.
Jones, Bernice R. "A Reconsideration of the Cloisters Ivory Cross with the Caiaphas Plaque Restored to its Base." Gesta 30, no. 1 (1991). pp. 65–88.
Parker, Elizabeth C., and Charles T. Little. The Cloisters Cross: Its Art and Meaning. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994. no. 16, 168, pp. 34–35, 230–32.
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