Cross (c. 1280–1300): Art, History and Details

Cross (c. 1280–1300) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This cross consists of rock crystal pieces drilled through their centers and fastened together with a golden rod. Where they join, the pieces of crystal are bound with decorative bands of painted gold. Venice was one of the most important centers of rock crystal cutting at the end of the 1200s. The cross was undoubtedly intended for prominent display on an altar and may have also been used in liturgical processions. The cross was at one time in the Royal Treasury of Saxony and purportedly first belonged to Rudolph I of Habsburg (reigned 1273–91).

Object facts

• Title: Cross
• Date: c. 1280–1300
• Culture: Italy, Venice
• Type: Stone
• Technique: rock crystal, painted gold mounts
• Dimensions: Overall: 70.2 x 52.2 x 6.6 cm (27 5/8 x 20 9/16 x 2 5/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1927.169

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.

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.