Casket
Unknown Artist
1100–1150?
Medium
gilded copper, champlevé enamel, wood core (modern)
Dimensions
9.3 × 23.4 × 13.5 cm
Classification
Enamel
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1949.16
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This champlevé enamel casket belongs to a distinct group of nine closely related objects characterized by the vivid colors of their enamel decoration and rows of spherical pins placed along the edges of each enamel plaque. Recent X-ray analysis suggests that the casket originally functioned as a stand for an altar cross. Such a function is attested to in at least three related caskets (in Copenhagen, Hildesheim, and Berlin). The casket’s iconographic program features the 12 apostles, placed unde...