Pax with the Adoration of the Magi
c. 1500
Medium
gilt bronze
Dimensions
9.5 × 6.6 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund and Various Donors by exchange
Accession Number
1963.254
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
A pax is a small flat tablet decorated with Christian images and meant to be kissed by the priest before Communion. This plaquette likely had a tabernacle-shaped frame which has been cut away. Here the Madonna sits before a stable with a nude Christ Child seated on her right knee. A star with a long vertical ray radiates in the distance above the stable. Joseph stands on the right edge of the relief, while a nude child, likely a young John the Baptist, appears beside Joseph. The Three Kings appr...