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
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...