Corpus from a Crucifix
Medium
Hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions
Overall (confirmed): 13 3/8 x 8 5/16 x 1 3/4 in. (34 x 21.1 x 4.4 cm); Other (cross): 18 7/8 in. (47.9cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
German, Nymphenburg
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of his wife, Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1977
Accession Number
1977.216.56
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite *Corpus from a Crucifix*, crafted around 1755 by Franz Anton Bustelli the Nymphenburgcelain Manufactory, the pinnacle of 18th-century German porcelain. Measuring 13⅜ x 8¼ x 1¾ inches, the hard-paste porcelain figure depicts the body of Christ in a moment of profound suffering, originally designed to attach to a cross (now separately 18⅞ inches tall). Bustelli, a master sculptor at Bavaria's renowned Nymphenburg factory, was celebrated for his ability to capture lifelike emotion and delicate anatomy in fragile porcelain, rivaling the era's finest marble or ivory works. Nymphenbu...