Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
These sculptural reliefs (2015.388.1–.4) display extraordinary, jewel-like enameling accomplished through an innovative technique involving molten glass paste built up over an armature of gold wires on a silver base. In expressive detail, they represent four scenes of Christ’s Passion at a tiny scale—fully appreciable only to those privileged enough to view the reliefs at close range. (The compositions owe more than a little to the Small Passion print series by the famous Northern Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer.) Expensive as they were, the plaques would have been worth only a fraction of the treasure in the container they decorated: most likely some lost relic, imbued with spiritual power and believed to bridge our world with the divine.
[Elizabeth Cleland, 2017]
[Elizabeth Cleland, 2017]
Artwork Details
- Title: Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
- Date: 1520–30
- Culture: German, Augsburg or Nuremberg
- Medium: Silver, lampworked glass, enamel, gold
- Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 2 7/16 × 1 11/16 in. (6.2 × 4.3 cm)
- Classification: Enamels
- Credit Line: Purchase, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Acquisitions Fund, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.388.1
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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