Spitzer Cross

The Spitzer Cross is an enameled metal

Abbey of Grandmont: similar Limoges enamel crosses are held in other public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum

.

The cross measures 67.4 cm × 41.9 cm × 0.2 cm (26.5 in × 16.5 in × 0.0787 in). The white figure of the crucified Christ is depicted in a sinuous pose with head bowed to the left, nailed to a green tinted cross. The copper ground emerges through the enamel to pick out details of ribs and muscles, with a

Greek letters

). The four ends of the cross are decorated with figures of saints and angels.

The cross was owned by B. Meyers, and then acquired by the 19th century art dealer

Jeptha Homer Wade II

. The catalogue of the Cleveland Museum of Art describes it as the finest Limoges enameled cross to survive.

In its original form, the crucifixion scene of the Spitzer Cross would have been on one side of a processional cross, with a depiction of Christ in Majesty on the other side surrounded by plaques with the symbols of all Four Evangelists: the Tetramorph. Two plaques of the correct shape, thought to be from the reverse of the Spitzer Cross, are known: one depicting the eagle of John the Evangelist is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the other depicting the ox of Luke the Evangelist is held in a private collection.

Similar crucifix, also sold from the Spitzer collection, now in the Walters Art Museum
Similar crucifix, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Plaque with the eagle of Saint John, Metropolitan Museum of Art

References

The "Spitzer Cross", Cleveland Museum of Art
The Spitzer Collection, Dumbarton Oaks
"63. Two plaques from a cross", Enamels of Limoges: 1100-1350, John Philip O'Neill (editor), Musée du Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996,
ISBN 0870997580

"Résumé du catalogue des objets d'art et de haute curiosité, antiques, du Moyen-age et de la renaissance : composant l'importante et précieuse collection Spitzer", 1893, p.41
Central Plaque of a Cross, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Plaque from a Cross with the Eagle of Saint John, Metropolitan Museum of Art