Elder of the Apocalypse
Unknown Artist
ca. 1100
Medium
Copper: gilt; champlevé & cloisonné enamel: black, medium and lavender blue, turquoise, almond green, white and pinkish white
Dimensions
Overall: 3 1/16 x 1/8 in. (7.7 x 0.3 cm)
Classification
Enamels-Champlevé & Cloisonné
Culture
French
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald S. Lauder, 1983
Accession Number
1983.38
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the *Elder of the Apocalypse*, a diminutive yet dazzling enamel masterpiece from medieval France, crafted around 1100. This tiny figure (just 3 inches tall) portrays one of the 24 Elders from the Book of Revelation in the Bible, seated in heavenly judgment with a symbolic gesture or attribute evoking the divine throne room. Emerging during the Romanesque era, such works adorned liturgical objects like book covers, reliquaries, or crosses, embodying the era's intense religious fervor amid the Crusades and monastic reforms. Masterfully executed on gilt copper, the artwork fuses *champlev...