Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude (shortly after 1038): Art, History and Details

Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude (shortly after 1038) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Commissioned by Countess Gertrude of Brunswick, this portable altar is one of the Guelph Treasure’s earliest and most sumptuous objects. The choice of white-speckled porphyry as the altar stone signals Gertrude’s worldly aspirations; an imperial color since classical antiquity, porphyry was only used by the imperial family. Historical figures of royal and imperial rank are depicted with Christ, the Virgin, apostles, and archangels along the altar’s sides, stressing the countess’s political ambitions and claim of imperial lineage for her own dynasty. The Latin inscription surrounding the altar stone reads, "Gertrude offers to Christ, to live joyfully in him, this stone that glistens with gems and gold."

Object facts

• Title: Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude
• Date: shortly after 1038
• Culture: Germany, Lower Saxony?, Romanesque period, 11th century
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gold, cloisonné enamel, porphyry, gems, pearls, niello, wood core
• Dimensions: Overall: 10.5 x 27.5 x 21 cm (4 1/8 x 10 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Romanesque
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1931.462.a

A detail from the museum

On the bottom of this altar is a trap door that opened to reveal small relics of saints wrapped in silk.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• 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.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

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.