Incense Burner and Stand for an Altar Cross
Unknown Artist
1150–75
Medium
bronze: cast, gilded, engraved, and chased
Dimensions
18.1 × 12.7 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1926.555
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Supported by dragon-shaped feet on its corners, this unusual object is fashioned like a small, centralized church with gabled roofs, a lantern crowned by a turret, and four semi-circular apses. Traces of soot on the interior walls of a nearly identical object in the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin indicate that these objects once served as incense burners. The objects’ design with an open turret in the center of the roof further suggests that they may have doubled as stands for altar crosses. The f...