The Small Crucifixion ("The Pommel of Emperor Maximilian") (1519): Artwork and History

The Small Crucifixion ("The Pommel of Emperor Maximilian") (1519) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Albrecht Dürer German, 1471-1528.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Albrecht Dürer engraved this Crucifixion scene on a small golden plate, which likely decorated the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian’s hat or sword hilt. The backward letters INRI (identifying Christ as the so-called King of the Jews) and the switched placement of Mary and John suggest that this impression was pulled from such a plate, the image appearing in reverse as a result of the printing process. Considering the softness of precious metals, gold plates were primarily intended as jewelry rather than as printing matrices. Dürer’s early training with his goldsmith father likely influenced his skill with the burin, especially on this minute scale.

Object facts

• Title: The Small Crucifixion ("The Pommel of Emperor Maximilian")
• Date: 1519
• Artist attribution: Albrecht Dürer German, 1471-1528
• Place of origin: Germany
• Medium: Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 3.6 × 3.6 cm (1 7/16 × 1 7/16 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1956.951

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.