According to the Gospels, Jesus appeared to his disciples several times after the Resurrection, including on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. In the encounter, represented at the top of this plaque, the disciples lament the Crucifixion, while Jesus explains the redemptive nature of his sacrifice. Below, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, who at first thinks he is a gardener. When she recognizes him, he tells her not to touch him (noli me tangere) since the Ascension has not yet occurred.
The swirling drapery, elongated bodies, and emphatic gestures convey the drama of these miraculous events and relate the plaque to works produced in León, an important royal city on the pilgrimage road. This precious ivory carving was part of a larger ensemble, perhaps a reliquary shrine decorated with other scenes from the life of Jesus.
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Title:Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere
Date:ca. 1115–20
Geography:Made in León, Spain
Culture:Spanish
Medium:Elephant ivory, traces of gilding
Dimensions:Overall: 10 5/8 x 5 1/4 x 3/4 in. (27 x 13.4 x 1.9 cm) Weight: 30.5oz. (866g)
Classification:Ivories-Elephant
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.47
Inscription: D[OMI]N[U]S LOQVITVR MARIE (the Lord speaks to Mary)
Traumann ; Ernest Guilhou, Paris; Georges Hoentschel (French); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
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New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "Spanish Medieval Art," December 15, 1954–January 30, 1955.
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Guide to the Loan Exhibition of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1914. pp. 13, ill. opp. p. 10.
Breck, Joseph. "Pre-Gothic Ivories in the Pierpont Morgan Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 15, no. 1 (January 1920). p. 17.
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.
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Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 32, 52, fig. 13, ill. p. 33.
Goldschmidt, Adolph. Die Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der romanischen Zeit, XI.-XIII. Jahrhundert. Vol. 4. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1926. no. 108, pp. 2, 32–33, pl. XXXVII.
Ferrandis Torres, José. Marfiles y Azabaches Españoles. Barcelona: Editorial Labor, S.A., 1928. pp. 134, 189–90, pl. LXV, fig. 1.
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Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. El arte románico español: esquema de un libro. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Históricos, 1934. pl. 25.
The Life of Christ: A Loan Exhibition of Works of Art Illustrating Episodes in the Life of Christ. Hartford, CT: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 1948. no. 200, p. 34.
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. 291, fig. 275.
Hunt, John. "The Adoration of the Magi." The Connoisseur (March - June 1954). pp. 158–60, fig. vii.
Spanish Medieval Art: A Loan Exhibition in Honor of Dr. Walter W.S. Cook. New York: Institute of Fine Arts Alumni Association, 1954. no. 24, pl. III.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. pp. 20–21, fig. 30.
Bainton, Roland Herbert. The Horizon History of Christianity. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1964. p. 45.
Hoving, Thomas. "The Thread of Patronage: The Medieval Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters." Apollo 82, no. 43 (September 1965). p. 188, fig. 13.
Calì, Maria. "Il Crocifisso in Avrio della Cattedrale di Canosa." Bollettino d'Arte 50 (January-June 1965). pp. 53–56, fig. 88.
Beckwith, John. The Adoration of the Magi in Whalebone. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1966. pp. 5, 10, fig. 11.
de Palol, Pedro. Early Medieval Art in Spain. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1967. p. 92, fig. 79.
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Schiller, Gertrud. Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst. Vol. 3. Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1971. pp. 96–97, 100, 285, fig. 285, ill. p. 421.
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Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires du Moyen Age. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1978. no. 177, pp. 71, 72, 118–19, 202, ill. p. 120.
Hibbard, Howard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Harper & Row, 1980. p. 149, fig. 276.
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Shepard, Mary B. Europe in the Middle Ages, edited by Charles T. Little, and Timothy B. Husband. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. p. 53, pl. 45.
Little, Charles T., ed. The Art of Medieval Spain, A.D. 500–1200. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 115, pp. 250–52, cover ill.
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Lasko, Peter. Ars Sacra, 800-1200. 2nd ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994. p. 160, fig. 221.
Strouse, Jean. "J. Pierpont Morgan, Financier and Collector." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 57, no. 3 (Winter 2000). p. 24, fig. 23.
Valdez del Álamo, Elizabeth. "Retablo con Esmaltes de Silos." In De Limoges a Silos, edited by Joaquín Yarza Luaces. Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior, 2001. p. 303.
Wixom, William D., and Margaret Lawson. "Picturing the Apocalypse: Illustrated Leaves from a Medieval Spanish Manuscript." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 59, no. 3 (Winter 2002). p. 41, fig. 42.
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires Médiévaux, Ve-XVe siècle. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003. pp. 201–2.
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. 162, fig. 9, [acc. no. misidentified as 17.190.45 in caption].
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Pardo, Francisco Fernández. Dispersión y Destrucción del Patrimonio Artístico Español. Vol. 3. 1st ed. Madrid: Fundación Universitaria Española, 2007. pp. 385–86.
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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. 237–38, fig. 6.
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Guàrdia, Milagros. San Baudelio de Berlanga, una Encrucijada. Memoria Artium, Vol. 10. Bellaterra: Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, 2011. p. 426 n. 215.
Hahn, Cynthia. "Text and Image on the Cloisters Cross and other Ivories." Inscriptions in Liturgical Spaces, Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia, 24 (2011). pp. 197–99, fig. 6.
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Barnet, Peter. "Joya medieval española / A Romanesque Sculpture in Ivory." Tendencias 70 (2014). pp. 47 (Spanish text); 91 (English text).
Álvarez da Silva, Noemi. "El trabajo de marfil en la España del siglo XI." PhD diss., Universidad de León, 2014. pp. 9, 265, 289, 297, 302–3, 515, fig. 9.
"The power that this sculpture has is precisely in the fact that it's not always concerned with naturalism and it's really concerned with telling a story."
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