Two cavities in Christ’s back originally held relics. The exquisite niello decoration, a black inlay containing sulfides of silver, copper, and lead, relate the cross to other goldsmiths’ work made in northern Spain. Whether it functioned as an altar or a processional cross or both is uncertain. The abbreviated Latin inscription identifies Christ as “Jesus of Nazarus, King of the Jews.”
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Dimensions:Overall: 10 1/2 x 7 1/16 x 15/16 in. (26.7 x 18 x 2.4 cm) Ivory Corpus: 5 13/16 x 5 11/16 x 7/8 in. (14.8 x 14.4 x 2.2 cm)
Classifications:Ivories, Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.221
Inscription: (Engraved, appearing down the top of the cross): IH[SU]S / N[AZARENUS] / R[EX] / I[UDAEORUM] (Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews [John 19:19])
J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "Spanish Medieval Art," December 15, 1954–January 30, 1955.
Goldschmidt, Adolph. Die Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der Zeit der karolingischen und sächisischen Kaiser, VIII.-XI. Jahrhundert. Vol. 2. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1918. no. 27, pp. 5, 27, pl. X.
Breck, Joseph. "Spanish Ivories of the XI and XII Centuries in the Pierpont Morgan Collection." American Journal of Archaeology 24, no. 3 (July–September 1920). p. 217.
Porter, Arthur Kingsley. Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads. Vol. 1. Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1923. pp. 38, 41–43, 52, 54, 70, (as no. 710).
Porter, Arthur Kingsley. Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads. Vol. 6. Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1923. p. 8, pl. 710.
Ferrandis Torres, José. Marfiles y Azabaches Españoles. Barcelona: Editorial Labor, S.A., 1928. pp. 135, 190, pl. LXVI.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 52.
Cook, Walter W.S., and José Gudiol Ricart. Pintura e imaginería románicas. Ars Hispaniae, Vol. 6. 1st ed. Madrid: Editorial Plus Ultra S. A., 1950. p. 293.
Spanish Medieval Art: A Loan Exhibition in Honor of Dr. Walter W.S. Cook. New York: Institute of Fine Arts Alumni Association, 1954. no. 28.
Thoby, Paul. Le crucifix, des origines au Concile de Trente. Nantes: Bellanger, 1959. no. 158, pp. 108, 250, fig. 158, pl. LXVIII.
Calì, Maria. "Il Crocifisso in Avrio della Cattedrale di Canosa." Bollettino d'Arte 50 (January-June 1965). p. 54, fig. 87.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires du Moyen Age. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1978. p. 202.
Bousquet, Jacques. "Les Ivoires espagnols du milieu du XIe siècle: Leur position historique et artistique." Les Cahiers de Saint-Michel de Cuxa 10 (1979). p. 42, fig. 4.
Estella Marcos, Margarita M. La Escultura del Marfil en España: Romántica y Gótica. Artes del tiempo y del espacio. Madrid: Editora Nacional, 1984. pp. 76–77, 85, fig. 17.
Little, Charles T., ed. The Art of Medieval Spain, A.D. 500–1200. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 131, pp. 272–272.
Little, Charles T. "Along the Pilgrimage Road: Ivories and the Role of Compostela." In Patrimonio artístico de Galicia y otros estudios: Homenaje al Prof. Dr. Serafín Moralejo Álvarez, edited by Ángela Franco Mata. Vol. 3. Santiago de Compostela: Xunta de Galicia, 2004. p. 165.
Calì, Maria. "Per il crocifisso in avorio, già nella cattedrale di Canosa." In L'enigma degli avori medievali da Amalfi a Salerno, edited by Ferdinando Bologna. Vol. 1. Pozzuoli: Paparo Edizioni, 2008. pp. 231, 235–37, 239, fig. 5.
Franco, Ángela. "Arte medieval leonés de España." In La dispersión de objetos de arte fuera de España en los siglos XIX y XX, edited by Fernando Pérez Mulet, and Immaculada Socias Batet. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, 2011. p. 111.
Abenza Soria, Verónica Carla. "El Díptic de Jaca i la reina Felicia de Roucy." In Síntesi: Quaderns dels Seminaris de Besalú. Vol. 2. 2014. pp. 50–51, fig. 11.
Álvarez da Silva, Noemi. "El trabajo de marfil en la España del siglo XI." PhD diss., Universidad de León, 2014. p. 265, fig. 107.
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