Shimmering with gold and jewel-like color, enameled altar furnishings from Limoges are luxurious in appearance, yet remarkably sturdy. The unlikely combination of preciousness and practicality contributed to the international renown of Limoges enameling from the twelfth to the fourteenth century.
The side plaque with a cross is a replacement. The original, which would have covered a hinged, lockable door, undoubtedly represented Saint Peter.
#3195. Chasse with the Crucifixion and Christ in Majesty, Part 1
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3195. Chasse with the Crucifixion and Christ in Majesty, Part 1
3200. Chasse with the Crucifixion and Christ in Majesty, Part 2
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Artwork Details
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Title:Chasse with the Crucifixion and Christ in Majesty
Date:ca. 1180–90
Geography:Made in Limoges, France
Culture:French
Medium:Copper: engraved, chiseled, stippled, and gilt; champlevé enamel: dark, medium, and light blue; turquoise, dark and light green, yellow, red, and white; wood core, painted red on exterior
Dimensions:Overall: 10 5/16 x 11 7/8 x 4 9/16 in. (26.2 x 30.2 x 11.6 cm)
Classification:Enamels-Champlevé
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.514
Inscription: (Enameled, in center panel on the cross): IH[SU]S / XP[ISTU]S (Jesus Christ)
William Beckford (British), Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire (until 1823); Countess Anne of Newburgh(died 1861); Fonthill Abbey sale, Phillips (British), Fonthill (September 9–October 27, 1823, Day 30, no. 1263); Hon. Robert Curzon, M.P.(died 1863); Robert Curzon(1863-73), Parham, Sussex, England; Robert Nathaniel Curzon, 15th Baron Zouche(1873-1911); Georges Hoentschel (French)(by 1911); Jacques SeligmannParis and New York (in January 1912); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1912-17)
Temporary Museum, Chichester. "Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute held at Chichester," July 1853.
South Kensington Museum. "Special exhibition of works of art of the Mediaeval, Renaissance and more recent periods on loan at the South Kensington Museum," June 1862.
Paris. Musée du Louvre. "L'Oeuvre de Limoges," October 23, 1995–January 22, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Enamels of Limoges, 1100-1350," January 22–June 16, 1996.
Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture. "William Beckford, 1760-1844 : an eye for the magnificent," October 16, 2001–December 6, 2002.
New York. Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture. "Salvaging the Past: Georges Hoentschel and French Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 3, 2013–August 11, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven," September 26, 2016–January 8, 2017.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Case Study: A Taste For Gold," August 19, 2024–December 4, 2024.
A Catalogue of Magnificent Effects at Fonthill Abbey, Wilts. Fonthill: Christie's, October 1–10, 1822. no. 58, p. 85, Day 9 [sale not held].
Rutter, John. A Description of Fonthill Abbey and Demesne, in the County of Wilts. 3rd ed. Shaftesbury: John Rutter, 1822. p. 61.
Britton, John. Graphical and Literary Illustrations of Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, with Heraldical and Genealogical Notes of the Beckford Family. London: s.n., 1823. p. 55, pl. IX (visible at left) [frontispiece ill. shows a different chasse, misidentified in text as this object].
The Valuable Library of Books in Fonthill Abbey: A Catalogue of the Magnificent, Rare and Valuable Library, of 20,000 Volumes [...]. Fonthill: Phillips, September 9–October 29, 1823. no. 1263, p. 200, Day 30.
Rutter, John. Delineations of Fonthill and its Abbey. Shaftesbury: John Rutter, 1823. p. 51, ill. vignette on p. 7.
"Proceedings at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute at Chichester, July, 1853." In Report of the Transactions at the Annual Meeting Held at Chichester, July 12th to 19th, 1853; with a General Notice of Memoirs Communicated to the Sections, and a Detailed Catalogue of Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited in the Temporary Museum. London: The Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1856. pp. 30–31.
"Catalogue of Antiquities exhibited in the Museum formed during the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute at Chichester, in July, 1853." In Report of the Transactions at the Annual Meeting Held at Chichester, July 12th to 19th, 1853; with a General Notice of Memoirs Communicated to the Sections, and a Detailed Catalogue of Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited in the Temporary Museum. London: The Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1856. pp. 74–75.
Robinson, J. C., ed. Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediæval, Renaissance, and More Recent Periods, on Loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862. London: South Kensington Museum, 1862. no. 1070, p. 69.
Robinson, J. C., ed. Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediæval, Renaissance, and More Recent Periods, on Loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862. Revised ed. London: South Kensington Museum, 1863. no. 1070, p. 73.
Rupin, Ernest. L'Oeuvre de Limoges. Paris: Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1890. p. 422.
Catalogue of a Collection of European Enamels from the Earliest Date to the End of the XVII Century. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1897. no. 32, pp. xii, 8, pl. X.
Marquet de Vasselot, Jean-Joseph. "Les émaux limousins à fond vermiculé (XIIe et XIIIe siècles)." Revue Archéologique, 4th ser., 6 (July–December 1905). pp. 232–33, 236–37, 425, pl. XV.
Cunynghame, Henry. European Enamels. London: Methuen & Co., 1906. ill. opp. p. 86.
Marquet de Vasselot, Jean-Joseph. Les émaux limousins à fond vermiculé (XIIe et XIIIe siècles). Paris: E. Leroux, 1906. pp. 21–22, pl. V [reprint of Marquet de Vasselot 1905].
Marquet de Vasselot, Jean-Joseph. "L'orfèvrerie et l'émaillerie au XIIIe et XIVe siècles." In Histoire de l'art depuis les premiers temps chrétiens jusqu'à nos jours: Volume 2, Formation, expansion et évolution de l'art gothique. Part 2, edited by André Michel. Paris: Librairie Armand Colin, 1906. p. 945.
"London Letter." American Art News vol. 9 (October 22, 1910). p. 5.
"From the World's Scrap-Book." Illustrated London News 3731 (October 22, 1910). ill. p. 628.
"The Chasse of St. Louis, a Thirteenth Century Treasure That is Likely to Come Here." The New York Times (October 30, 1910). p. C2, ill.
"Notes of the Month." The Antiquary 46, no. 11 (November 1910). p. 402.
"The St. Louis Reliquary." The Times 39397 (October 7, 1910). p. 11.
"News in Brief: The Reliquary of St. Louis." The Times 39430 (November 15, 1910). p. 7.
Roger-Milès, Léon. "Le reliquaire de Saint Louis revient en France." Le Figaro, 3rd ser., 318 (November 14, 1910). pp. 1–2.
Pératé, André. Collections Georges Hoentschel: Émaux du XIIe au XVe siècle. Paris: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1911. no. 49, fig. XXIV–XXV.
"Notes of the Month." The Antiquary 47, no. 1 (January 1911). pp. 2–3.
Guide to the Loan Exhibition of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1914. pp. 13–14, illus.
Conway, Martin. "The Abbey of Saint-Denis and its Ancient Treasures." Archaeologia 66 (1915). p. 155, pl. XX.
Rubenstein, Stella. "Some Limoges Reliquaries of the Late Twelfth Century." Arts & Decoration 7 (April 1917). p. 305, ill.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 32, fig. 52, ill. p. 102.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 32, fig. 52, ill. p. 102.
Borenius, Tancred. "The Meredith Reliquaries." Burlington Magazine 57, no. 330 (September 1930). pp. 134–35.
Lansing, Ambrose. "Masterpieces of Enameling." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 35, no. 5 (May 1940). ill. p. 100.
Forsyth, William H. "Mediaeval Enamels in a New Installation." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 4, no. 9 (May 1946). ill. p. 238.
Gardner, Albert Ten Eyck. "Beckford's Gothic Wests." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 13, no. 2 (October 1954). pp. 48–49, ill. p. 47.
Rorimer, James J., and William Holmes Forsyth. "The Medieval Galleries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 12, no. 6 (February 1954). p. 140.
Lane, Arthur. "The Gaignières-Fonthill Vase: A Chinese Porcelain of about 1300." Burlington Magazine 103, no. 697 (April 1961). p. 129.
Seligman, Germain. Merchants of Art: 1880–1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1961. p. 74.
Gauthier, Marie-Madeleine. "Une Châsse limousine du dernier quart du XIIe siècle: Thèmes iconographiques composition et essai de chronologie." In Mélanges offerts à René Crozet... à l'occasion de son soixante-dixième anniversaire par ses amis, ses collèques, ses élèves et les membres du C.É.S.C.M., edited by Pierre Gallais, and Yves-Jean Riou. Vol. 2. Poitiers: Société d'études médiévales, 1966. no. C38, pp. 948, 951, fig. 12.
Gauthier, Marie-Madeleine. Émaux du Moyen Âge Occidental. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1972. no. 49, pp. 96, 330.
Caudron, Simone. "Émaux champlevés de Limoges et amateurs britanniques du XVIIIe siècle." Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin 103 (1976). pp. 140, 159, 164–67, fig. 9.
Andersson, Britt-Marie. Emaux limousins en Suède: Les châsses, les croix. Antikvariskt arkiv, Vol. 69. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1980. p. 9.
Gauthier, Marie-Madeleine. Émaux Méridionaux: Catalogue International de l'Oeuvre de Limoges; L'Époque Romane. Corpus des émaux méridionaux, Vol. I. Paris: Editions du centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1987. no. 205, pp. 181–82, pl. N, ill. 28 (color); pl. CLXXXV, ill. 636–38.
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. 86, pl. 77.
Wainwright, Clive. The Romantic Interior: The British Collector at Home, 1750–1850. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. pp. 133–35, fig. 115.
Auchincloss, Louis. J.P. Morgan: The Financier as Collector. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1990. ill. p. 35.
Taburet-Delahaye, Elisabeth, and Barbara Drake Boehm, ed. L'Oeuvre de Limoges: Emaux limousins du Moyen Age. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1995. no. 24, pp. 128–29.
Boehm, Barbara Drake, and Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye, ed. Enamels of Limoges, 1100-1350. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996. no. 24, pp. 128–29.
Smith, Elizabeth Bradford, ed. Medieval Art in America: Patterns of Collecting, 1800–1940. University Park, Pa.: Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, 1996. p. 152.
Rottner, R. Aaron. "J.P. Morgan and the Middle Ages." In Medieval Art in America: Patterns of Collecting, 1800–1940, edited by Elizabeth Bradford Smith. University Park, Pa.: Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, 1996. pp. 123–24.
Boehm, Barbara Drake, and Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye. "L'Oeuvre de Limoges." In De Limoges a Silos, edited by Joaquín Yarza Luaces. Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior, 2001. p. 77.
Luaces, Joaquín Yarza, ed. De Limoges a Silos. Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior, 2001. p. 116, (accession number mislabeled as 17.190.714 in text).
Ostergard, Derek, ed. William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent. New York: Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, 2001. no. 96, pp. 368–69, 434.
Krohn, Deborah L., Ulrich Leben, and Daniëlle O. Kisluk-Grosheide, ed. Salvaging the Past: Georges Hoentschel and French Decorative Arts from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, 2013. no. 138, p. 172.
Boehm, Barbara Drake, and Melanie Holcomb, ed. Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. no. 142, pp. 288, 289.
Bolton, Andrew, ed. Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. Vol. 2. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. pp. 300, 324.
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