Pendant with the Virgin and Child (c. 1160–1170): Art, History and Details

Pendant with the Virgin and Child (c. 1160–1170) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Godefroid de Huy (Netherlandish).

The work and its context

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

This pendant was made in the Rhine-Meuse region—now in modern Belgium—renowned for the production of fine metalwork objects, especially enamels. An enamel plaque depicting the enthroned Virgin and Christ child dominates the pendant. Four peripheral enamels depict angelic figures representing virtues: Humility, Virginity, Piety, and Mercy, each identified by an inscription. The pendant may have been made to serve as a reliquary to house a consecrated host. The refined craftsmanship and costly materials fittingly honor these sacred remains.

Object facts

• Title: Pendant with the Virgin and Child
• Date: c. 1160–1170
• Creator attribution: Godefroid de Huy (Netherlandish)
• Culture: Mosan, Meuse Valley, Romanesque period, 12th century
• Type: Enamel
• Technique: gilded copper, champlevé enamel; the reverse decorated in vernis brun
• Dimensions: Overall: 19.8 x 17 x 3.2 cm (7 13/16 x 6 11/16 x 1 1/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Romanesque
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1926.428

A detail from the museum

The outer lobes contain cabochons, gemstones that have been shaped and polished resulting in a rounded top and flat bottom, of garnet, glass, and quartz.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Roddaz, Camille de. Les merveilles de l'art ancien en Belgique; ou, L'Art ancien à l'exposition nationale de 1880. Bruxelles: Rozez, 1890.
• Hôtel Drouot. Objets d'art et de haute curiositʹe. 1890.
• Migeon, G. "La collection de M.G. Chalandon," Les Arts (June, 1905).

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.