Essen cross with large enamels

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The Senkschmelzen Cross in the exhibition Gold vor Schwarz (Gold on Black)
The Cross' enamel of the crucifixion (actual size 7.8x6.5 cm)

The Cross with large enamels, or Senkschmelz Cross, known in

senkschmelz enamels), is a processional cross in the Essen Cathedral Treasury which was created under Mathilde, Abbess of Essen. The name refers to its principal decorations, five unusually large enamel plaques made using the senkschmelz technique, a form of cloisonné which looks forward to champlevé enamel, with a recessed area in enamel surrounded by a plain gold background, and distinguishes it from three other crosses of the crux gemmata type at Essen. The cross is considered one of the masterpieces of Ottonian
goldsmithing.

Description

The original part of the cross is 46 cm high and 33 cm wide, with a core made of

sardonyx and was made in the first half of the first century AD. The cameo is worked in three layers (grey-brown, white, and gold-brown) and has a maximum diameter of 2.7 cm. The cameo might be taken in reference to Psalm 91.13[2]
as symbolic of evil's defeat by the saviour.

The name of the cross derives from the five large pieces of senkschmelz enamel at the extremities of the members, and in the crossing. In the centre of the Cross there is a slightly oblong plaque with a depiction of the crucifixion:

Christ is on the cross with his head inclined to the left and his eyes wide open. Mary and John (identified on the basis of his contemplative gesture) stand on either side. Above the horizontal arms of the Cross, personifications of the Sun and Moon
watch the events. The enamel is surrounded by tiny pearls and due to its size it extends a little above and below the horizontal arm of the cross.

At the ends of the members of the cross, inside a simplified border of gemstones, which matches the border of the cross' arms, four further large, irregularly shaped senkschmelz panels are found with the

Matthew, at right the winged bull of Luke and at left the winged lion of Mark
. These large senkschmelz panels are unusually large for European work (as opposed to Byzantine) and of high technical and artistic quality, which is visible in the rich colours and fine delineation of the wings.

The back plate of the Cross was replaced in the twelfth century and depicts the

Tree of Life. In the expanded space at the ends of the cross there are four chased medallions depicting angels and in the centre there is a medallion depicting the Agnus Dei
.

Creation and remodelling

The Cross is universally dated to around 1000 by scholars.[3] This dating is based firstly on the motifs of the 21 small enamels of the border, which bear floral and carpet-like patterns, which arose around the turn of the millennium, and secondly on the framing of the stones and border enamels which seems to derive from the Cross of Otto and Mathilde (dated to around 982).

The irregular form of the Evangelist plaques is conspicuous, as is the fact that the central plaque does not fit neatly to its position. These plaques were created around 1000.[1] However, on the grounds of their similarly irregular shape, these plaques were probably created for another context and later incorporated into the Cross, which was considerably altered as a result. For this purpose, the plaques of the Evangelists, whose composition betrays Byzantine influence, were recut.[4] Therefore, their irregular shape stressed the fact that they were spolia.[5] In order to fit these plaques, the original border of the ends and centre of the Cross was simplified to the current form.

Beuckers dated this remodelling to the time of

corollae) which also appears on the ends of this cross (uniquely among the pieces in the Essen Cathedral Treasury). Sophia had been appointed Abbess of Essen by Henry II and was close to him, which might have given her the opportunity to employ one of his goldsmiths. Neither Bienenkörbe nor Blütenkronen appear on the treasures which Sophia's successor Theophanu
had made (presumably at another workshop), so Beuckers excludes her as the person responsible for the creation of the Cross with large enamels. It is not known why Sophia had a sacral object which had been created by her predecessor Mathilde remodelled and had another, apparently significant artwork of her own incorporated into it.

If this dating is accepted, then the Cross with large enamels was created at the same time as the

Egbert of Trier
to Essen after Egbert's death in 993, following which there are no signs of continuing activity in Trier. The Trier workshop is the only firmly locatable Ottonian enamel workshop. If the cross was indeed produced by the same workshop, this allows conclusions to be drawn about the quality of the lost Marsus shrine.

History

From its creation, the cross has been located in Essen, except for evacuations during wars and other crises. Because of the similarities with the two other crosses of the Cathedral Treasury, which show Mathilde and were also donations to Essen, it is assumed that it belonged to the Abbey continuously from its donation until the

Essen-Steele), where it was kept in an orphanage donated by Abbess Francisca Christina of Sulzbach
.

At secularisation the Catholic

Ruhr Uprising of 1920 the whole treasury was taken in great secrecy to Hildesheim, whence it was returned in 1925 in equally secretive circumstances.[9]

In the

Second World War the Cathedral Treasury was first taken to Warstein, then to Albrechtsburg in Meissen and thence to a bunker in Siegen. After the end of the war it was found there by American troops and the cross along with the rest of the treasury was taken to the State Museum in Marburg and later to a collection for displaced artworks in Schloss Dyck in Rheydt. From April to October 1949 the Essen Cathedral Treasury was displayed in Brussels and Amsterdam
, before it was brought back to Essen.

With the creation of the

Diocese of Essen
in 1958 and the elevation of Essen Minster to the status of Cathedral, the cross became property of the diocese.

Liturgical use

Details of the original liturgical use of the Cross are not known. When the sources, most importantly the Essen Liber Ordinarius of 1400, describe the use of processional crosses for processions, they speak generally and without distinguished individual crosses. Processional crosses were often used in pairs and on the basis of the creation of the Cross with large enamels under Abbess Mathilde it is assumed that the Cross with large enamels was made as a companion to the Cross of Otto and Mathilde. The two crosses were used together under Cardinal Hengsbach. The Cross with large enamels was last used in 1992 at the funeral of the second Bishop of Essen, Dr. Hubert Luthe. Today the Cross with large enamels, like the other three Ottonian processional crosses of the cathedral, is no longer in use for conservation reasons.

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Beuckers, Farbiges Gold, p. 10.
  2. ^ On a young lion and a cobra you will tread; you will trample the young lion and the serpent.
  3. ^ Beuckers, Marsusschrein, p. 112 (with further references).
  4. ^ Beuckers, Farbiges Gold, p. 8.
  5. ^ Beuckers, Farbiges Gold, S. 11.
  6. ^ Beuckers, Marsusschrein, p. 112.
  7. ^ Beuckers, Marsusschrein, p. 117.
  8. ^ The inventory is reproduced by Humann, Die Kunstwerke der Münsterkirche zu Essen, pp. 34–35.
  9. ^ Lydia Konnegen, "Verborgene Schätze. Der Essener Münsterschatz in Zeiten des Ruhrkampfes." in Münster am Hellweg 58, 2005, pp. 67–81.

Sources

External links
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