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
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...