The figures on this late Carolingian plaque are carved in a stately style and are defined by simple, linear draperies. Because of its size, format, and the nature of its subject, this plaque most likely served as the central decoration on the front cover of an evangelary. It depicts an allegorical crucifixion, a common theme in Metz ivories. Above the cross are bust-length personifications of the sun and the moon. From Christ's right side flows a stream of blood and water, which is caught by a personification of the Church. To the immediate right of Christ is the hooded figure of Synagogue, her body turning away. The entire group is flanked by the Virgin and St. John, executed in larger scale. Below them are Longinus with his lance, Stephaton with the sponge, and figures emerging from circular mausolea, a reference to the resurrection of the dead at the Last Judgment. The snake spiraled around the foot of the cross symbolizes Christ's triumph over death and evil. In the lower register, the three Maries appear at the tomb of Christ, a scene which is rarely combined with the Crucifixion in Carolingian art.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Plaque with the Crucifixion and the Holy Women at the Tomb
Date:ca. 870
Geography:Made in northern France
Culture:Carolingian
Medium:Elephant ivory
Dimensions:Overall: 9 3/8 x 4 13/16 x 1/4 in. (23.8 x 12.3 x 0.6 cm)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Purchased jointly by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Cloisters Collection) and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux de France (Palais du Louvre), 1974
Accession Number:1974.266
Inscription: (obverse, on plaque above cross): IH[ESV]S NAZARE / NVS REX IV[DAEORVM] (Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews [John 19:19])
(mark on reverse): […] SALZBURG (Salzburg)
Nicholas E. Landau, Paris (sold 1974)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965–1975," December 6, 1975–March 23, 1976.
Gómez-Moreno, Carmen, and J. L. Schrader. "Departmental Accessions." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 105 (July 1, 1974–June 30, 1975). pp. 67.
"La Chronique des Arts: Principales acquisitions en 1974." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6th ser., 86 (March 1975). no. 111, p. 30.
Raggio, Olga, ed. "Medieval Art and the Cloisters." Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art) no. 1965/1975 (1975). p. 156.
Raggio, Olga, ed. Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965-1975; Explanatory Texts. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. p. 19.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires du Moyen Age. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1978. no. 85, pp. 70, 71, 190.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Elfenbeinkunst im Mittelalter. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1978. no. 63, p. 191.
Kirby, Elizabeth Ann. "The Motif of the Serpent at the Foot of the Cross, 850-1050." PhD diss., Florida State University, 1981. p. 122, (acc. no. misidentified as 203546).
Melzak, Robert. "The Carolingian Ivory Carvings of the Later Metz Group." PhD diss., Columbia University, 1983. no. 20, pp. 95, 96, 181, 187, 190, 194, 199, fig. 20.
Shepard, Mary B. Europe in the Middle Ages, edited by Charles T. Little, and Timothy B. Husband. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. pp. 9, 42–43, pl. 34.
Surmann, Ulrike. Studien zur ottonischen Elfenbeinplastik in Metz und Trier: Nordenfalks Sakramentar- und Evangeliargruppe. Bonn: Verlag M. Wehle, 1990. p. 241, fig. 116.
Büchsel, Martin. "Die Kreuzigung zwischen Antike und Christentum." Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, n.s., 89/90 (1993/94). p. 29, fig. 15.
Musto, Jeanne-Marie. "John Scottus Eriugena and the Upper Cover of the Lindau Gospels." Gesta 40, no. 1 (2001). pp. 4, 5, 7, fig. 5.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires Médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003. no. 38, pp. 146–47, 155.
Kitzinger, Beatrice E., and Cambridge University Press. The Cross, the Gospels, and the Work of Art in the Carolingian Age. Cambridge, 2019. pp. 47, 88, fig. 25.
Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte Cordez, Philippe. "Golgotha im Kopf. Karl der Kahle und die karolingischen Elfenbeinkämme." Convivium: Exchanges and Interactions in the Arts of Medieval Europe, Byzantium, and the Mediterranean. Volume 8, Part 1, Objects Beyond the Senses. Studies in Honor of Herbert L. Kessler (2021). pp. 108–09, fig. 3.
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