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Liturgical Fan

ca. 1130–50
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
This openwork disk is one of three with central crosses that constitute a unique surviving ensemble of liturgical fans. Adorned with rock crystal and other gems, each is subtly differentiated by the foliate patterns of its pierced openwork and engraved designs. Liturgical fans were used ceremonially to fan the altar, but this heavy, gilded copper set may have served symbolic rather than functional purposes. It was long enshrined in the seventeenth-century retable (decorative altarpiece) behind Hildesheim Cathedral’s high altar.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Liturgical Fan
  • Date: ca. 1130–50
  • Culture: German (Hildesheim)
  • Medium: Gilded copper alloy, rock crystal, semiprecious stones, and ancient intaglios
  • Dimensions: H: 21 1/8 in. (53.7 cm); Diameter: 16 1/8 in. (41 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Copper alloy
  • Credit Line: Dom-Museum Hildesheim (DS 27c)
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters