Altar Cross (c. 1300–1310): Art, History and Details

Altar Cross (c. 1300–1310) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This cross is traditionally said to come from the Benedictine Abbey of Meherau on Lake Constance in today’s Austria. During the 12th and 13th centuries the abbey became wealthy through the acquisition of landed property. This beautiful cross would have likely embellished one of the abbey’s many altars where it symbolized Christ’s presence in the Mass.

Object facts

• Title: Altar Cross
• Date: c. 1300–1310
• Culture: Germany or Austria, Upper Rhine, Constance, 14th century
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gilt copper, champlevé enamel, gemstones, on wood core
• Dimensions: without base: 50.2 x 39.4 cm (19 3/4 x 15 1/2 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1942.1091

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William M. “Copper-Gilt Cross from Vienna.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 30, no. 10 (December 1943): 147–156.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.