This enameled plaque originally crowned the top of a large, double-sided altar cross. With chalk-white faces and deep brows, the angels mournfully bear witness to the Crucifixion of Jesus. Their censers proclaim his death and allude to the consecration of bread into Christ's body, since incense was burned both at funerals and during Mass. The balanced, elegiac composition, the richness of the colors, and the refinement of the vermiculé background distinguish this object as one of the highest achievements of Limoges enamellers, renowned throughout medieval Europe.
#142. 82nd & Fifth: Predestined: Plaque with Censing Angels
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Artwork Details
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Title:Plaque with Censing Angels
Date:ca. 1170–80
Geography:Made in Limoges, France
Culture:French
Medium:Champlevé enamel, copper gilt
Dimensions:4 5/16 x 8 11/16 x 1/8in. (11 x 22.1 x 0.3cm)
Classification:Enamels-Champlevé
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 2001
Object Number:2001.634
Louis-Fidel Debruge-Duménil French, Paris (before 1838) ; Baron Albert-Alexandre de Pourtalès-Gorgier French, Paris (1850) ; comte James-Alexandre de Pourtalès-Gorgier, Paris (1850, by descent) ; Louis-Auguste-Alfred I Beurdeley French (1865) ; Stieglitz Museum of Applied Arts (1905-1906) ; [ Brimo de Laroussilhe, Paris (May 1933)] ; Ernst and Marthe Kofler-Truniger, Lucerne (before 1960) ; Keir Collection (Edmund de Unger), London (before 1981–sold 2001)
Labarte, Jules. Description des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge-Duménil. Paris: Librairie archéologique de Victor Didron, 1847. no. 664, pp. 572–73.
Catalogue des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge-Duménil. Paris: Bonnefons de Lavialle, January 23–March 12, 1850. no. 664, p. 73.
Catalogue des objets d'art et de haute curiosité, antiques, du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance, qui composent les collections de feu M. le comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier. Paris: Comte James Alexandre Pourtalès-Gorgier, February 6–March 21, 1865. no. 1748, p. 244.
Marquet de Vasselot, Jean-Joseph. Les émaux limousins à fond vermiculé (XIIe et XIIIe siècles). Paris: E. Leroux, 1906. p. 44.
Schnitzler, Hermann, ed. Große Kunst des Mittelalters aus Privatbesitz. Cologne: Museum Schnütgen, 1960. no. 85, p. 57, pl. 72.
Kauffmann, C. M. "The Kofler Collection: An important exhibition in Zürich." The Connoisseur 156, no. 627 (May 1964). p. 22, ill. p. 17.
Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern: Ausstellung. Zurich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1964. no. 843, p. 93, pl. 88.
Lasko, Peter. "A Notable Private Collection." Apollo 79, no. 28 (June 1964). p. 473, fig. 11, ill. p. 468.
Schnitzler, Hermann, Peter Bloch, and Charles Ratton. Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern: Email, Goldschmiede- und Metallarbeiten; europäisches Mittelalter. Vol. 2. Lucerne: Verlag Räber & Cie, 1964. no. 37, p. 20, pl. 11.
Souchal, Geneviève. "Autour des plaques de Grandmont: Une famille d'émaux limousins champlevés de la fin du XIIe siècle." Bulletin Monumental 125, no. 1 (1967). p. 66, fig. 35.
Kunsthalle Köln. Weltkunst aus Privatbesitz. Cologne: Museen der Stadt Köln, 1968. no. D 35, fig. 22, (unpaginated).
"Departmental Accessions." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 132 (Jul. 1, 2001–Jun. 30, 2002). p. 21.
"Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 2001-2002." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 60, no. 2 (Fall 2002). p. 11.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 25, pp. 56, 194.
Barnet, Peter. "Recent Acquisitions (1999-2008) of Medieval Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cloisters, New York: Supplement." The Burlington Magazine 150, no. 1268 (November 2008). p. 795, fig. VI.
Barnet, Peter. "Medieval Europe." In Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1977–2008, edited by James R. Houghton. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. p. 24.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniversary ed. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 53.
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