Altar Front (c. 540–600): Art, History and Details

Altar Front (c. 540–600) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This carved marble panel resembles the front of an Early Byzantine sarcophagus, or coffin. While its decoration is typical of those produced in the Italian city of Ravenna during the 500s, its size is considerably smaller, indicating that the panel may instead have been made as an altar front. It is likely that the small window between the center columns with its opened curtains once allowed the faithful to contemplate a precious reliquary placed inside. The decorative repertoire of the panel includes both architectural forms--arches, pediments, and columns--and a number of symbols commonly found in Early Christian art including scallop shells, lambs, palms, and crosses that represent the concepts of life, the sacrifice of Christ, victory over death, and eternal life.

Object facts

• Title: Altar Front
• Date: c. 540–600
• Culture: early Byzantium, Constantinople or Ravenna, Byzantine period, 6th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: marble
• Dimensions: Overall: 101 x 169.5 x 25.5 cm (39 3/4 x 66 3/4 x 10 1/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Byzantine
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1948.25

A detail from the museum

This marble altar was likely in a Byzantine church that was opulently decorated with mosaics, rich textiles, and gilded lamps. Worshipers would have witnessed the rituals of faith that occurred at the altar, enshrined behind a barrier called a templon, and accessible only to the clergy.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Miner, Dorothy Eugenia. Studies in Art and Literature for Belle Da Costa Greene. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954.
• 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.