The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Reliquary of the True Cross

Reliquary of the True Cross

c. 1214
silver, gilded silver, niello, precious stones, walnut core
Overall: 44 x 31 x 4.7 cm (17 5/16 x 12 3/16 x 1 7/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1952.89
Location: 106C Medieval Treasury

Description

A lengthy Latin inscription on the frame recounts the history of the central relic--a fragment of the True Cross--and provides an exact date for its container: "You who ask about the cross: read! The heir of Judas the priest/Stole it. But when, after boarding a ship,/He sought a mild breeze, a fierce storm opposed the sorry sailors./Out of his mind, he gnawed at his own hands./In the end the blessed Virgin spoke thus to him:/‘You shall soon be well, if you seek to return what was stolen.’/ He pays back this debt to the brothers of the Temple . . . When he died, they cast him overboard, and the storm subsided./Happy they arrive at Brindisi, quiet they have returned with the cross,/Which resides beautiful in this handsome panel. This tablet was created in the 1214th year from the Lord’s incarnation in the month of February."
  • Albin Chalandon, Lyons; Georges Chalandon, Paris; (Adolph Loewi, Los Angeles).
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 141 archive.org
    Bagnoli, Martina. Treasures of heaven: saints, relics, and devotion in medieval Europe. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2010. Reproduced: cat. no. 49, p. 54, 90 - 91
    Boehm, Barbara Drake and Melenie Holcomb, eds. Jerusalem, 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven. NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. 62
  • Every People Under Heaven: Jerusalem, 1000–1400. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 19, 2016-January 8, 2017).
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC (9/19/2016 – 1/8/2017): "Every People Under Heaven: Jerusalem, 1000–1400" cat. no. 25f, p. 62.
    CMA, October 17, 2010 - January 17, 2011, Walters Art Museum February 13 - May 15, 2011, British Museum June 23 - October 9, 2011: "Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe," cat. no. 49.
    Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 17, 2010-January 17, 2011); The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (February 13-May 15, 2011); The British Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (June 23-October 9, 2011).
    All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 23, 1994-January 8, 1995).
    Ornamenta Ecclesiae: Romanesque Art and Artists in Cologne. Museum Schnütgen, Cologne, Germany (organizer) (March 7-June 9, 1985).
    Cologne, 1985, Schnutgen Museums: Ornamenta Ecclesiaw, vol.3, cat.no.H43
  • {{cite web|title=Reliquary of the True Cross|url=false|author=|year=c. 1214|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.89