Title

Christ in Majesty

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

Of the three ivory pieces with the effigy of three enthroned figures, nimbus and carrying the book that are preserved in the United States, the first two are today kept in the Glencairn Museum (Bryn Athyn, Philadelphia), call number O4.CR.40 and call number O4.CR.39.

The third, the one that concerns us, has a more enigmatic and unknown history.

In the famous catalog of the exhibition never held, entitled The Art of Medieval Spain (Metropolitan Museum of New York), in 1993, it was indicated that this ivory was in a private collection in Rhode Island, but recently (Álvarez da Silva, 2013: 64) specified the place: the Rhode Island School of Design in New England (United States), and more particularly its associated museum, the RISD.

The ivory, of undoubtedly Leonese origin, has fewer studies and bibliography, a fact increased by being, for a long time, in private hands and not on display.

In 1928 the work was in the Fogg Museum of Harvard University and, according to the old bibliography and the RISD website, it seems that it came from a monastery in León, although it is never specified which one.

Again, according to the institution, this ivory carving was a gift from Angela Brown Fischer from the Collection of John Nicholas Brown, where the ebonized piece was to be found at least since 1938 (with an old registration number EL198.38, which has now changed).

We know that this collector had a certain predilection for European medieval art, and particularly in his possession he owned pieces of similar chronology to the ivory we are dealing with, such as the Christ in Majesty, dated between 1100 and 1110/1120, from Santa Marta de Tera (Zamora).

The RISD Museum (Rhode Island School of Design) reports that they do not have more specific data on the ivory.

Description

This ivory piece measures 15.9 x 6.4 cm. and 7 cm. at the widest part.

Because of its formal and iconographic features, some experts have identified it as an apostle, while the RISD Museum's cataloguing card indicates that it is a Christ in Majesty, dated, they say, in too broad a chronological framework, between the years 1100-1200.

The figure has a smooth nimbus, only ornamented by a simple outer rim. There is no trace of gold leaf or polychrome. In the halo are very visible the two holes, certainly disproportionate and rough, possibly practiced to insert the nails that adhered the piece of ivory to the wooden soul.

The hair, parted in the middle and divided in braids, show solutions that this carving shares with other Leonese productions, such as the Christ of Carrizo of the Museum of Leon . On the other hand, the similarities with the apostles of the Glencairn Museum are clear, in the large conception of the ears, the almond-shaped eyes with a rim and the presence of hollows in which some material was inlaid to give vivacity and depth to the gaze. The beard and mustache are not very well worked, barely sketched.

The master who carved this ivory, once again took great care in the drapery and drapery, recreating sumptuousness in the finials and orophreys. Here, by means of incision, he finished off the neck of the tunic by simulating rhinestones, in an oval format, alternating horizontal pieces and others placed vertically. On the other hand, the chest was articulated with five undulations that bring movement to the fabrics and become more complex, knotted and swirling at the level of the lower belly and knees, as often happens in other contemporary works, such as the so-called portapaz that is preserved today in the museum of the Royal Collegiate Church of San Isidoro de León. With the right hand he blesses, a stereotypical gesture of Romanesque art, while with the other he holds a small scroll that simulates parchment.

A detail that seems to us very important and that today is totally lost is the rest of the furniture visible on the right margin of the piece, broken or cut and, in some points splintered, as can be seen at the height of the nimbus. This piece of furniture is the throne, which has lost almost all of its ornamentation, but where the knob-shaped finial is still visible, simulating the cabinetwork. In addition, its richness is shown by the care taken by the craftsman in introducing decorative elements, such as the wreathing flanking the sphere and a top finish in the form of slightly winged leaves. This point, the use of the wreathing, connects this work with the St. Peter the Apostle in the Glencairn Museum, where this element ornaments the nimbus and the keys of the character.

It is undoubtedly one of the few remaining vestiges of the legs of the throne, which was topped with a bulging cushion, but smooth in its ornamentation.

The feet of the figure once again rest on a smooth, semicircular supedanium or footstool, very similar to that of the apostle in Glencairn number CR39.

Again we can think that, judging by the irregularity of the silhouette -possibly because the ivory was cut- elements have disappeared that perhaps provided information or data about the work, some epigraph or the possible architecture that would frame the figure. Since authors such as Ch. T. Little approached the piece, it has been debated whether we are dealing with an ebony plaque to be adhered to the wooden core of a reliquary or an altar frontal, a difficult question to resolve given the scarce documentary information and that provided by the object in question.

Locations

• XII^th c.

  province

  León, León (Spain)

• ca. 1928

  museum

  Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge [Massachusetts] (United States)

• ca. 1938

  private collection

  John Nicholas Brown, Providence (United States) *

• ca. 2014 - present

  museum

  Rhode Island School of Art Museum of Art. Providence. Rhode Island (United States)