The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude
c. 1045
Overall: 10.5 x 27.5 x 21 cm (4 1/8 x 10 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
Location: 106C Medieval Treasury
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."- 1045-?Treasury, Cathedral of St. Blaise, BrunswickHouse of Brunswick-Lüneburg?-1931(Goldschmidt Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1931-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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- {{cite web|title=Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude|url=false|author=|year=c. 1045|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1931.462