The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2025

Christ's Mission to the Apostles

c. 970–980
ivory
Overall: 18.2 x 9.9 x 1 cm (7 3/16 x 3 7/8 x 3/8 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1967.65
Location: 106C Medieval Treasury

Description

This ivory plaque represents a full-length figure of Christ flanked by bust-length portraits of the twelve apostles, six in a vertical column on each side. With his large eyes fixed on the beholder and his mouth slightly open, Christ seems about to speak to the apostles, charging them with the mission of preaching the Gospel to the world. The plaque may originally have formed the central decoration of a precious Gospel book cover that may have looked much like the one Christ carries in this image.
  • Albin Chalandon, Lyon
    Georges Chalandon, Paris
    1949
    Madame Georges Chalandon, Rome
    Otto Wertheimer, Paris
    1954-67
    Private Coll., Switzerland
    Albin Chalandon, Lyon; Georges Chalandon, Paris; Madame Georges Chalandon, Rome (1949); Otto Wertheimer, Paris; Private Coll., Switzerland (1954-1967)
  • “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302–346. Mentioned: p. 42, no. 29; Reproduced: Back cover www.jstor.org
    Wixom, William D. “An Ottonian Ivory Book Cover.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 55, no. 9 (November 1968): 275–289. Reproduced: p. 274, fig. 1, Cover; Mentioned: p. 275, 279 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 44 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 49 archive.org
    Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 490
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 128-129, no. 41
    Goetsch, Emily. "World Maps and Waterways: Place and Space in the Beatus Mappaemundi." In Place and Space in the Medieval World. Meg Boulton, Jane Hawkes and Heidi Stoner, 198-209. NY: Routlege, Taylor & Francis Group Ltd., 2018. Mentioned; p. 201, p. 208, note #8
    Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Mentioned: p. 18-21; Reproduced: p. 19
  • Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
    Otto the Great, Magdeburg and Europe. Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg, 39104 Magdeburg, Germany (organizer) (August 27-December 2, 2001).
    The Glory of Byzantium. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3-July 6, 1997).
    Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).
    Paris, Musée des Art Décoratifs "Chefs d'oeuvres de la curiosité du monde" 1954: no. 266, pl. 120.
    J. Seligmann: "Objects d' Art" 1913, p. 53, no. 104.
  • {{cite web|title=Christ's Mission to the Apostles|url=false|author=|year=c. 970–980|access-date=23 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.65