Plaque from a Portable Altar: Zacharias at the Altar (c. 1100–1125): Art, History and Details

Plaque from a Portable Altar: Zacharias at the Altar (c. 1100–1125) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This delicate ivory plaque may once have decorated a side of a portable altar. It likely depicts the angel of the Lord appearing to the priest Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, at the altar in the temple. Like the identity of the object in Zacharias’s hands, the identity of the couple accompanying the priest remains unclear.

Object facts

• Title: Plaque from a Portable Altar: Zacharias at the Altar
• Date: c. 1100–1125
• Culture: Germany, Rhine Valley, Cologne?, Romanesque period, 12th century
• Type: Ivory
• Technique: ivory
• Dimensions: Overall: 8.6 x 7.7 cm (3 3/8 x 3 1/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Romanesque
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1926.212

Collection credit

Gift of John L. Severance in memory of J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• W. M. M. “A Romanesque Ivory.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 13, no. 8 (October 1926): 176–178.
• Milliken, William. "Mr. Severance's Gifts to the Museum." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 23, no. 2 (February 1936): 17-27

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.