Pax with Christ Appearing to the Apostles
Valerio Belli (Italian, c. 1468–1546)
late 1500s
Medium
gilt bronze in ebony frame
Dimensions
21.2 × 15.2 × 6.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of John L. Severance
Accession Number
1942.631
Tags
male
About this artwork
A pax is a tablet depicting a sacred subject that a priest held out to be kissed during the Mass. The scene on this tablet is of Christ preaching to ten apostles. The image is by an unknown artist who based it on a plaquette by the gem engraver and medalist Valerio Belli (1468–1546) and demonstrates an awareness of linear perspective and scale conventions common in Renaissance Italy. The triumphal arch seen behind the figures, for example, contains coffering and Corinthian capitals that have bee...