Altar or processional cross, gilded copper with enamel and gemstones, France, Limoges, ca. 1250

Altar cross with champlevé enamel on copper, in combination with copper-gilt plaques engraved and set with crystals, pastes and an amethyst. Figures of St John and the Virgin formerly occupied the blank spaces on the front; above and below are figures of an angel and St Peter. On the back, Christ in Majesty with emblems of the four evangelists and an angel.

Salting Bequest

Heckscher Collection sale 1898, lot 180, Salting Bequest, 2059.

The present cross is closely related to a cross in Munster Cathedral and another in Dijon Museum. All three crosses feature the crucified Christ in half relief. The Muster cross is the best preserved: restored in the nineteenth-century, it has a small coffer as a base. The front of the London cross very closely resembles the Munster cross. The arrangement of various details such as St Peter below Christ, an angel above Christ, Christ's posture and the two small crosses situated above his arms, link these two objects. The Virgin and St John are present on the arms of the Munster cross but have been lost from the present example.

On the London cross, the hand of God descends and is accompanied by an enamelled nimbus. The nimbus is absent from the Munster cross but does appear on the cross in Dijon. Although the musculature and sinews on the boy of Christ are similar on both the Dijon and London crosses, the treatment of the heads is quite different, with that on the Dijon cross wearing a crown. Some of the panels on the front of the Dijon cross have been replaced with panels from the back.

A champlevé enamel chasse depicting the Crucifixion and Christ in Majesty in the Louvre (OA 6183) (dated 1190-1200) also features a half-relief Christ, on which the ribs and sinews are emphasised; suggesting a sinuous movement of the body perceptible. This treatment is considered by Abrams to be a Gothic flourish to what is otherwise a Romanesque object. The back of the chasse is decorated as with the present cross - with simple rosettes.

Souchal (1967) suggested Byzantine influence for certain iconographic motifs on enamels of Limoges, such as situating the crucifix itself inside the boundaries of a cross form. However Abrams in Enamels of Limoges (1996) points out that the design was already manifest in glazing at Potiers by the mid-twelfth century as were other elements such as the articulation of the ribs and the sinews of the arms, which he considers to obviate the need to cite Byzantine sources.

The wooden foundation, the stamped brass edging and the brass socket are of a later date.

This cross would have been used as the principal ornament of an altar, where it would have been placed centrally, probably between two candlesticks. It needed to be large enough to be conveniently seen by the people attending the mass and was intended to recall the sacrifice of Christ to the minds of the congregation.
Figures of St John and the Virgin formerly occupied the blank spaces on the arms of the cross; the figures above and below Christ are St Peter and an angel. The back features Christ in Majesty with emblems of the four evangelists and an angel.

M.575-1910