Artwork Page for Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude

Details / Information for Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude

Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude

c. 1045
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Germany, Lower Saxony?, Romanesque period, 11th century

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Medium
gold, cloisonné enamel, porphyry, gems, pearls, niello, wood core
Measurements
Overall: 10.5 x 27.5 x 21 cm (4 1/8 x 10 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1931.462
Public Domain
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Location
106C Medieval Treasury
Print
?

Did You Know?

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

Description

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."
Portable, ornate, gold altar with Christian religious figures with halos standing in archways on the side-panels, gems and pearls running around the border. Various enamel blue, red, white, and green geometric patterns decorate the archways, contrasting with the solid gold figures within them. On this visible side, Christ stands in the center, flanked by three people on either side. The top of the altar is made from a sheet of porphyry, a white-speckled, purple rock.

Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude

c. 1045

Germany, Lower Saxony?, Romanesque period, 11th century

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