Plaque with the Crucifixion

This plaque was probably once part of a casket or tabernacle. It was produced by the specialized workshops for enamel objects in Limoges, France. Here Christ on the cross is flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist. The Christ’s central importance is signaled by his larger size and by the fact that his is the only figure fully modeled in the round rather than engraved into the copper support. The imagery on tabernacles that survive intact (notably in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) suggests that plaque would have originally been surmounted by another depicting the Ascension of Christ into heaven.