Julius Goldschmidt (1882-1964);

John Hunt (1900-1975) a🅰nd Gertrude Hunt (🎀1903-1995), Dublin, Ireland;

thence by descent to the present owners

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Collection Julius Goldschmidt (1882-1964) ;

John Hunt (1900-1975) et Gertrude Hunt (1903-1995), Dublin, Irla༺nde ;

Par descendance jusqu'aux propriétaires actuels.

D. Kötzsche, 'Fragmente vom Dreikönigenschrein - Wo sind sie geblieben?', in K. Hardering and L. Becks (eds.), Kölner Domblatt: Jahrbuch des Zentral-Dombau-Vereins, 2009, pp. 95-6, fig. 42 [illustré]

This beautifully enamelled and gilt plaque with the Crucifixion was once at the centre of a Cross in the Adolphe Stoclet collection, where it was photographed in 1933 (Kötzsche, op. cit., p. 95, fig. 42). The cross beams of the Stoclet Cross were mounted with enamelled plaques with foliate and geomatric designs which Dietrich Kötzsche has identified as coming from the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral; three of these plaques are today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Cloisters (inv. nos. 69.238.1; 69.238.2; 69.238.3) and a fourth is in a German private collection. Discussing this ensemble, Kötzsche argues that the present Crucifixion plaque was probably made in Cologne, rather than the Meuse valley, circa 1150-1160 (see Kötzsche, op. cit., pp. 95-96).

The present plaque is nonetheless more broadly characteristic of Mosan enamels dating to the third quarter of the 12^th century. The same colour palette, in particular the blue haloes with white edges, and the drapery composed of green/yellow and blue/white, together with the red accents (such as the blood falling from Christ's hands), can be seen in the Mosan, circa 1160-1170, four semi-circular plaques with Old Testament Scenes in the British Museum, London (inv. nos. M&LA 88, 11-10,3). These plaques, along with others in Trier and Nuremberg, are thought to come from two lost phylacteries which appear to have been made for the important Benedictine abbey of the Holy Saviour at Prüm in the Eifel (see Stratford, op. cit., nos. 5-8). The Prüm enamels have been ascribed to the Stavelot Triptych workshop, named after the famous triptych in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York, made circa 1156-1158 probably for Abbot Wibald of the Benedictine abbey at Stavelot. Stratford also gives the Mosan 'Typological' Cross in the British Museum to the same workshop (op. cit., inv. no. M&LA 56,7-18,I). The ✤present Crucifixion plaque is apparently unique in incorporating enamelled blue spandrels with scrolling foliate motifs which appear to show a knowledge on the part of the enameller of contemporary Limoges champlevé enamels.

RELATED LITERATURE

N. Stratford, Catalogue of Medieval Enamels in the British Museum: Volume II Northern Romanesque Enamel, London, 1993, pp. 68-81, nos. 4-8;

D. Kötzsche, 'Fragmente vom Dreikönigenschrein - Wo sind sie geblieben?', in K. Hardering and L. Becks (eds.), Kölner Domblatt: Jahrbuch des Zentral-Dombau-Vereins, 2009, pp. 95-6, fig. 42.